Anthony of Asgard
by Renne Michaels
Summary: Loki's back in Asgard leaving Tony minus a lab partner, wingman and buddy, he wonders how it is possible to feel so lonely in a city so full of people. He's an engineer, he decides to fix this after a major screwup on his part. FrostIron Loki, Tony Stark, Ironman, Thor, Jane, Frigga, Odin, Fury, Colson and the Avengers. You do not have to have read QUEENS GRACE to follow this.
1. Chapter 1 - Nobody said life would ever

**Chapter Summary** - After housing the God of Mischief in his tower for several years Loki is recalled to Asgard. This leaves Tony minus a lab partner, wingman and buddy to snark with on Movie Night. Pepper has moved to the west coast and married, SHIELD is doing some crazy shit. With the exception of occasionally seeing Bruce, Tony doesn't have much interaction with his former team mates. He wonders how it is possible to feel so lonely in a city so full of people. He's and engineer, he decides to fix this. - Sequel to Queens Grace. You do not have to have read Queens Grace to follow this.

**TRIGGER WARNINGS IN END NOTES **

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

A continuation of Queens Grace the fic that refused to die. But you don't have to have read that one to understand this. I do have 70k more of Anthony of Asgard material planned eventually.

Starting premise - Loki has was recalled to Asgard after several years of being a prisoner in Stark Tower as a favor to Queen Frigga when Asgard proved to be too dangerous to his now mortal and memory altered self. After his recall, Loki and Tony started a long distance friends with benefits relationship that takes place on Loki's yearly reward visit to Midgard.

Please visit me on tumblr RenneMichaels if you see my Snowflake Avatar you're in the right place

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

**Nobody said life would ever be easy. **

**Chapter 1a - Tony buys a car **

It had been a terrible week, but then it always was before his yearly trip. Every year Odin would yell and tell him that no matter what had been agreed, this year he was not travelling to Midgard. And every year, Frigga and Thor had to jump in and separate them as he and Odin sniped, yelled and occasionally screamed at each other.

Oh, first Loki would be offered a sop of some sort or the other. This year it was an offer of a trip lasting a whole week if he went to Álfheimr instead of Midgard. Last year, it was Odin had offered the a few minor powers back if he stayed in Asgard. In previous years, there had been other forms of enticement, some good, some bad, although the year that he had been offered a rich wife in the form of a minor Vanir princess named Sigyn was probably the worst. Not that the girl wasn't lovely, she was, and in exactly the lithe way that Loki liked. But she also came from a family famous for their fertility. Loki would be damned if he would allow himself to be tied to Asgard by a wife and children. Someday he was going to leave, no matter what Odin said, and Loki wanted no anchors holding him back.

OoooO

Loki had lived for a thousand years, and a drought of the intimate sort lasting even thirty or forty years was doable for him, not comfortable, but doable if it was necessary. Besides, Loki always managed to enjoy himself that way on his yearly visit to Midgard.

He even found enjoyment when he had gone in disguise so that Odin couldn't recognize him or so that Tony couldn't unwittingly give him away like he had the first time. Perhaps understandably Tony did not truly understand how easily the All Father could see and hear anything he wanted to from his throne. Additionally, Frigga and Loki had no clue that Odin was keeping such a close eye on her little servitor, what with Loki being back in Asgard. Frigga had thought that distracting Odin during Loki's actual visit was all that would be necessary. A month or so later Odin had been watching when Tony spoke of the visit to one of the Avengers.

The discussion that had ensued between his parents had been loud enough that it caused no end of speculation between the servants.

Despite or perhaps in spite of the argument with Odin, Frigga had decided to continue offering him a yearly trip in return for Loki at least not openly antagonizing Odin and Thor. To avoid causing problems for his mother, the first few times he had gone secretly, allowing his mother to place a female glamour on him to hide from Odin. He scheduled his visits for the evening of the Stark International Christmas party and for reasons Loki could not even initially explain to himself… Instead of quietly informing Tony who he was and the impressing upon the little mortal the need for absolute secrecy, Loki decided to have a bit of fun. As so he did. Have fun that is. In the following years Loki had always managed to grab Tony's attention, even if it had required him to be sometimes more than a bit manipulative to capture the playboy's attention.

The whole charade had not been without its darkly amusing side; Tony finally got what he wanted from Loki, but just didn't know it. Perhaps not so amusing was Loki's inability to decide if this was all to lay groundwork in case of future need… Or rather assuage a need that he had but didn't want to acknowledge. Oh, Loki could tell himself anything, and the Nine knew he could spin out perfectly reasonable justifications for anything until the cycle renewed. However he normally tried to be honest with himself, if only for the rarity of the experience. The problem in this case was that Loki just honestly couldn't decide which it was in his own mind.

The whole mess with the little Midgardian had his thoughts so tangled that even a solid hour of concentration wasn't enough to yield a single coherent thought on his feelings for Tony.

On one hand Loki hated the mouthy, but cute little mortal who had ignored him when he needed help. On the other, Tony could be an engaging companion who not only appreciated, but even joined in and encouraged Loki's favorite past time of messing with people's heads. The man was intelligent, a point in his favor. However Tony was also extremely selfish, and frankly Loki had put up with enough of that from Thor. Tony was interested in Loki to the point of putting years of effort into trying to get him in bed. Make no mistake; such persistence was flattering from a certain angle, yet it was also scary from another. Tony wanted Loki's knowledge to be sure, but had more than repaid the information he received with insights and information exchanges that benefited Loki. More important than all of the rest was that Tony Stark had the means and the power to provide a safe haven for Loki in case of great need. And that was definitely a card worth keeping in his hand.

Unable to decide in his own mind why, in the end Loki had taken a page from his brother's book and fallen into the habit of just not thinking about it. He ruthlessly dragged his thoughts away whenever they drifted towards the whys of his allowing Tony to annually seduce him without knowing it was him and just enjoyed it for the physical release that it was.

This had worked fine until the year Tony had caught onto him. Several days after his visit, during their monthly letter exchange Tony had included photos and security footage of the lovely woman he had met during the just passed Yule celebration. Tony had gone on and on, praising 'her' intelligence, looks and charm while bragging how 'she' was totally into him; as well 'she' should be because he was after all Tony Stark.

Mortified did not even begin to describe how Loki felt when he had to listen to a long tongue in cheek ramble about how great this 'woman' was and how Tony had felt like he had 'known her' for years despite just conversing with 'her' for a few hours. Loki had declined to even comment on the subject, even after Tony had brought it up again the next month, sending him a few more pictures and asking Loki what 'he' thought of 'her'.

The month after that, the mortal had sent his mother an exquisite dragonfly motif hair comb and a letter asking her if there was anything she could do to get 'Loki himself' approval for another visit to Earth. His Mother had of course badgered Loki about the strange wording of the request until he had been forced to admit that the mortal had somehow found out about Loki's deception. Frigga's finger had paused in its light tracing of the dragonfly design as she raised amused blue eyes to regard him. A few months later when the All Father had complimented her on the antique gold and tortoise shell comb, she had casually passed on Tony's request and her adamant recommendation that it be granted without ever letting on that Loki had been visiting all along in disguise.

OoooO

Wrenching his attention from the past and back to the work at hand, Loki checked that the structure being built for the next set of bridge supports was actually following the plans he had drawn up. Assured that it had been Loki once again mounted his horse, and followed by his personal guards, returned to his construction office.

He managed to keep his expression set so as not to show anything that would hint to Asgard what he was thinking about. Internally though Loki smirked, thinking of all the times he and Tony had teased each other into a frenzy. And the best time of all was the year Tony had come out and in Tony's words, 'busted him' and told him to make sure he was in his normal male Æsir form when he came back the next year or he wasn't going to allow him in bed. The memories of Tony finally moaning his name were enough to kick off his private fantasies for the rest of the year. Well, his memories and the surveillance videos that Jarvis had kindly downloaded for him of that night and several of the previous ones that he had shared with Tony.

While Loki's expression was almost always bland and courteous, his guards had spent a lot of time with him. He was aware that there was some speculation on what exactly the normally tightly focused Loki might be thinking of when that strange distant look came over him.

OoooO

The minute Heimdall left, Loki knew something was wrong. Normally Tony was waiting at the terrace entrance for him. Occasionally Pepper, if she was in her New York office would also meet him. Loki didn't always see Pepper in person, but she did try to make it as often as often as she could manage. If she couldn't schedule a New York Visit, he at least talked to her by phone or video conference.

Loki knew he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a bit disappointed that no one was on hand to greet him, but he did know that even with the best of intentions, Stark sometimes got caught up in the lab and Jarvis had a hard time getting his attention.

Loki shouldering his now ratty Iron Man backpack and carrying a large, heavy duty, reinforced leather duffle bag he let himself into Stark's large living room. "Hello Jarvis, where's Tony. Is he down in the lab?"

"Good evening Loki." The AI greeted him warmly. "Mister Stark got a call about a car he has been trying to buy and went to look at it this afternoon and he hasn't made it back yet. I will call him and let him know you are here."

"Thanks Jarvis," Loki laughed, "I'm going to run a few things down to the lab. Tell Tony that I am starting without him."

"I will do so sir."

Dropping his backpack on top of the bar, he carried the duffle bag down to the lab. Clearing space on one of the work benches, he unpacked about ninety pounds of mineral powders from the oversized leather questing duffle. He hoped that by providing the materials that were necessary to grow bridge crystals in their raw form, it would make it easier for Tony's research team to identify and source them on Midgard. He also unpacked over a hundred pounds each of Adamantine and Cavorite ingots.

"Sir, I'm having trouble reaching Mister Stark, but I will keep trying. Would you like to come back up to the penthouse when you are done and look over the books and files that we have ready for you to take back?"

"Thank you Jarvis, I'll do that, it will save time later. And I have some stuff to drop off up there also." Loki said smiling up at the AI. Which, he understood was not necessary, and Tony always laughed when he did it… but it seemed strange to look off in a corner where a camera was, when Jarvis's voice issued from the ceiling.

While he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that Tony wasn't here to meet him, he knew the man had the attention span of a child, and most likely would not have been able to resist looking at the car the minute he was called about it. It was just typical Tony behavior. When dealing with the genius you had to understand that sometimes his priorities were a bit skewed. After emptying the duffle and checking out the new stuff sitting around the lab, Loki went upstairs. Grabbing his back pack he unpacked a few bottles of an excellent elfin Celarta liqueur and several more bottles of various Æsir mead and whiskey equivalents, hiding them behind the bar for Tony to find later. He'd also hid presents from himself, Frigga and Thor for Tony and Pepper under the large Yule tree in the corner.

Loki spent the time waiting for Tony talking to Jarvis and reloading his back pack with various items set out for him. A new custom, big screen Stark laptop, a few external hard drives, one empty, one full of program files and research papers, sd cards, electronic books, new music and anything else that Tony thought he might be interested in. There were also supplies for his printer, packs of his favorite types of candy and the ubiquitous Iron Man gear that Tony delighted in giving him, t-shirts and some strange stuffed children's toys this year.

Loki stowed the shirts, blushing when he thought about an incident that had happened during the times when he had been forced to sneak around in order to visit Midgard once a year. He was when he was still disguised of course, lest Odin sitting on Hlidskjalf decide to cast his eyes upon Midgard. That year he had again shape shifted into a petite brunette female who, like various shape shifted versions of the previous years had no trouble intriguing the billionaire and being invited upstairs. That year Tony had talked him into wearing an Ironette outfit, only with red spike heels instead of boots. He had found the a few weeks later that by that time, unknown to him, Tony had been wise to his tricks and had known the woman was actually Loki, but just wasn't letting on.

Later, when he was openly visiting Midgard, Tony hauled a version of that outfit out of his closet sized for Loki's male form, and wanted Loki to wear it after dinner that evening. Thinking the billionaire wouldn't agree, Loki had said that he would, but only if Tony wore a collar and leash and nothing else. He was stunned at the speed at which Tony had not only smirkingly agreed, but was actually leashed, collared and naked. Loki wasn't even done trying on the heels for size before Tony was finished getting dressed. Or rather undressed. That Tony actually had a collar and leash in his closet, a very tasteful red leather number, had amazed him so much he couldn't find it in himself to be the least bit shy about his own outfit that evening. It had been a fun night over all, even if it still made him blush just thinking about it.

Casting his mind about for something to distract it, Loki realized just how hungry he was. In the days leading up his annual visit he was usually too upset to eat much, partially due to excitement and partially due to the stress of arguing with Odin.

"Jarvis, I am quite hungry. Could you order some pizza and Chinese for us please? Hopefully Tony will be back before the food arrives."

"Of course sir and might I suggest a German Riesling I have chilling on the top shelf of the wine cooler? I understand that some of the more adventurous food critics are now pairing it with both Pizza and many of the Chinese dishes that you and Mister Stark prefer.

Tony still wasn't back when the food arrived, but Jarvis had the same items delivered to Pepper in her California office, so they had dinner together using Jarvis' security cameras as a sort of video conference system. Jarvis was right, the Riesling paired marvelously with the foods that Jarvis had selected.

Pepper had accepted, with an understanding sigh that Tony had been delayed, but was gleeful that she had more time to talk without Tony trying to monopolize the conversation. After some general catching up, including pictures of Pepper and her husband Dale's last vacation in Bali. For her part, Pepper decided to take advantage of Tony's absence and ask about Odin's more recent attempts to tie Loki to Asgard.

"So, Loki," Pepper said, casually while pouring herself another glass of wine. "Odin still trying to marry you off? Or has he finally dropped that idea?"

"Not dropped, so much as delayed. I think my mother has had words with him on the subject," Loki said with a sigh. "This year I was offered a weeklong trip to visit my Uncle Frey's court. However Sigyny continues to guest with a cousin of hers, so I occasionally see both ladies when they wander out to the BiFrost site to visit and when I am required to attend major feasts, they always seem to be seated at or near the high table."

Pepper smiled, "Well look on the bright side. Having a cousin to pal around with might distract her; perhaps her cousin will introduce her to someone else." She noticed Loki's twisted smile.

"No?" she asked in an aggrieved voice. "What's so amusing about that?"

Refusing to look at her, Loki answered. "I think they now have a competition going, to see who will captivate me first." Biting his lower lip he finally glanced at her, "It might be flattering if they weren't doing it to gain Odin's favor for their family."

"Oh."

"Okay, I can see where that sucks."

"Indeed," Loki frowned down at his plate, "I don't ever recall being the object of so much pursuit in all my years in Asgard. I'm almost starting to believe that someone has put out a memo to everyone with an eligible daughter."

"Well just be glad they don't have email there," she teased.

"Believe me Pepper," Loki retorted with a bitter smile, "Æsir gossip travels faster and farther than even Twitter would be able to achieve." Then not wanting to ruin their evening, he switched to lighter subjects, telling her about how well the plants he had taken his mother last year were blooming and Thor's latest blunders in diplomacy.

"You know, you could occasionally clue him in."

"No," Loki told her firmly. "He has to learn how to do this himself. I will not be there for him later. Besides, it's not like I see him that often, I mostly hear about his problems from others." The god essayed a small hopeful smile. "If I can't get out from under Odin's thumb, I know Thor will release my restrictions when he becomes king. And the minute he does I am leaving."

"So, I guess you are still managing not to fight with him anymore?"

"Of course not," the god said bitterly. "While I am not the least bit helpful, I am always most sympathetic when we meet. I am the perfect loving brother."

"It must make you crazy."

"You have no idea."

OoooO

Several hours and numerous excuses from Jarvis later, Loki was not so understanding. Why Tony was not answering incoming calls from his phone was originally worrying. But Jarvis was able to ascertain that Tony had not been in an accident or anything by tracking a bank transfer for the purchase of the car and then several charges after that in a restaurant and then bar. Large charges, like those for a party.

While he couldn't help but worry that perhaps he had offended Tony in some way, Loki soon dismissed that idea. He only saw Tony once a year. Also nothing in Tony's last video message had contained anything indicating that the man was upset. Loki borrowed a heavy coat of Tony's and paced out on the terrace for a while, before he finally drew up a deck chair and sat looking out over the city. Hands deep in the coat's pockets, he huddled in the chair, his booted feet up on the lower safety rail. As he sat there, it began to snow and Loki felt his thoughts turn as frozen as the night air.

He wasn't sure how long he had sat there until at last, Jarvis managed to get his attention and told him that Tony and a guest were on their way up in the elevator. Loki had just made it to the terrace doors when he saw Tony enter with a red head wrapped around him. Even if his expression had remained as frozen as the outside air, Loki felt like he had received a sharp blow to the chest. He watched unbelievingly as Tony pushed the woman up against the wall kissing her and sliding his hands under her dress for several minutes until he finally pushed her towards his bedroom.

OoooO

It was several minutes before it registered that the occasional low moan he was hearing was actually coming from him. Loki finally lifted his head from where it had been resting on the cold glass, stumbling backwards ungracefully until he was as far from the door as he could get. Sinking down on his heels the god wrapped his arms around his knees and rested his head upon them while leaning his back against the terrace's parapet wall.

He was more than painfully aware that he had absolutely no claim on Stark, and had never really had one.

It's not like he didn't know the inventor was seeing other people, he told himself, eyes stinging as he stubbornly held them open. After all he wasn't even sure in his own mind why he had originally decided to sleep with Stark. A way to fix the mortal sympathies on him in case of future need? Curiosity to see if Stark would even recognize him? Whatever the reason, once Loki had started he just couldn't resist continuing.

Besides, Stark wasn't the one who was a caged criminal, the little mortal was free to be with whoever he wanted to be with.

It was just so very disappointing that Stark hadn't even given Loki a hint that he was no longer wanted to spend time with him. If he had just left a note or something, Loki would have cleared out as soon as he had dropped off the supplies Stark had requested and picked up the updated program files. Or better, Loki would have sent Thor to do the delivery, pickup and rune maintenance.

It's not fair; Loki thought miserably beginning to rock a bit on his heels. Then after several long minutes of 'wallowing' in self-pity Loki berated himself for such sentimental nonsense.

After all, when had life in general and his in particular ever been fair?

Loki's first thought had been to just call Heimdall, forget the back pack in the house, forget renewing the Starks rune, just call Heimdall and head back to Asgard. But fair or not, he did have obligations and running home like a jilted adolescent was not happening. Just because his occasional thoughts of someday returning to Stark Tower were shattered, that still didn't mean he wanted to be trapped in Asgard for the next few centuries. And even if the man no longer wanted him as a bed partner, Stark's help with speeding up the BiFrost repair had been invaluable in the past and Loki would hate to lose any future insights the engineer might have. Besides not acting like a scorned suitor might still allow Stark's tower to be at least a temporary sanctuary in case of dire need.

His head hurt.

"Jarvis, would I be able to re-enter the suite without Stark being notified?" he called softly sure that the AI would hear him.

"Sir muted me immediately upon entering the building," Jarvis said somewhat peevishly. "So I will be unable to notify him if you enter the suite." The AI continued in a sly tone.

"Marvelous," he said tiredly, wiping a hand over his stinging eyes. "Could you check and see if I have any money left on my debit card?"

Loki stood, running his hand through his hair, slicking it back with the dampness from melted snow before dusting snow off the back of his pants where he had been leaning against the wall.

"Sir, you still have several thousand dollars left in that account, plus the considerable amount of money Sir has put into your savings to pay for the materials you have been bringing him."

"I don't want Stark's charity," Loki spat without thinking.

He stood there for several long moments. "Jarvis, please make sure you deduct the cost of the computers and other tech I've been taking home with me from my savings, let me know if it isn't enough."

"I will do so sir, I believe you can enter the suite without fear of disturbing sir as long as you stay clear of the master suite hall way."

Slipping into the suite, he grabbed his back pack and unpacked the Iron Man gear, sticking it on a shelf below the bar. Then stashing the pack and his empty duffle bag near the terrace doors, Loki took the elevator down to the small apartment on his old floor to grab his wallet from the top night stand drawer. He found it right where he had left it there when he had first returned to Asgard. Checking quickly he saw that while he had a decent amount of cash, his credit card and legal ID had expired. Fortunately his debit card didn't have an expiration date on it, so according to Jarvis it was still usable.

Jarvis' voice broke the silence, "Sir, even after deducting your computers and such, you still have several thousand dollars available to you without anything being transferred from your company stock account."

"Marvelous. Wonderful. Fine," Loki said bitterly, sliding his wallet into the coat pocket and snagging his old watch before heading for the door.

"Don't forget you will need your pin number, it's six-two-seven-five and if you would stop at the night service desk, they will give you a charged phone so sir or I can reach you if we need to."

Punching the down button savagely, the doors slid open. "I don't need a phone Jarvis. I'll be back around six, which will give me enough time to finish my business before I have to call Heimdall at seven."

"I understand sir, but I really must insist that you-"

"Jarvis please, I'm afraid I'm not in the mood."

"May I ask where you are going?" The AI asked after a long moment. "I may be able to assist you."

"I have absolutely no idea where I'm going. Maybe a bar. Maybe a whorehouse. Maybe I'll go get my mother a DVD player of her own." He took a deep shuttering breath. "I just don't know."

"I understand sir, there is a twenty-four hour Best Buy at One Union Square South, would you like me to call you a cab? Or shall I have security will drop you off there?"

"A cab will be fine. Thank you." Using the reflective surfaces in the elevator, Loki brushed his hair back and straightened his jacket.

"Jarvis, if Stark…" Loki paused, trying to make his tone a bit more upbeat. "Well, never mind that. Jarvis, thank you for all your help this evening. I really do appreciate it."

"It was my pleasure sir."

The rest of the ride was silent. Just before the elevator door opened Jarvis spoke to him again. "Mister Odinson, security informs me that they are holding a cab for you by the west entrance."

OoooO

A few hours after he had arrived, Loki left one very happy employee at the Best Buy store. Over the course of his shopping, the young man had guided him from department to department helping him select a dependable rechargeable DVD player, a Nook electronic reader, a very expensive digital camera with all the accessories, a digital photo printer, photographic inks, the very latest 3D Printer, consumables for both printer, numerous DVD's and a Visa gift card that he could use to buy books for the Nook immediately. He had confided to Loki that while he received no commission on the items he sold, he did receive preferential treatment for hours and departments if he was a top seller. Since Loki thought someone should be happy today, he told the young man to add service contracts to everything he bought, even though he knew he would never be using them.

When Loki mentioned that he had to leave the country in the morning for an extended stay in a remote location with no stores or internet access, his salesman turned him over to a friend of his in the technical department who assisted him in setting up the Nook and using the gift card to download numerous books for his mother.

Not that Loki couldn't have done it himself. Eventually. Jarvis had mostly done it for him when he lived on Midgard, so paying a tech worker who did things like this all the time for customers was just faster. And one less thing he would have to do when he got back to Stark Tower. And if the store thought he was being charged for a particularly complicated computer repair, Loki was sure he didn't care.

Exiting the store, Loki looked at his watch and decided that even adding in travel time, he had more than an hour to kill until it was time to get a cab back to Stark Tower. While he was certain that all of the books he had on sd cards were DRM cracked, he decided to download a few more books for his mother, perhaps some gardening books? Digital photography books? History books? Or perhaps even a selection of Midgardian romances that might appeal to her tastes rather than the book he normally received which were mainly were science, engineering and only the occasional novel.

OoooO

"So Loki," said the soft voice, "What are you doing here by yourself? You and Tony have a fight?"

Startled at the unwelcomed yet familiar voice, Loki hastily ordered his expression to something less devastated than he felt and lifted his head to see Natasha Romanoff pull out a chair at his table.

Since he had time to kill, Loki had carried his double bagged purchases, the boxes strapped together with fiberglass reinforced packing and a handle, four blocks away to a restaurant called the Coffee Shop at 29 Union Square West. At his request, the hostess seated him near a window so he could get wifi from the park across the street. It was due to close in an hour, but he was assured that they would get his order taken and severed with more than enough time to eat. Not that Loki was really hungry, but if ordering breakfast was the price he paid for brooding somewhere that wasn't Stark Tower, so be it.

"You know," said the casually dressed assassin, scooting her chair up to the table, "this place closes from five thirty am to six thirty for cleaning."

"Ah. Agent Romanoff." Loki drawled, outwardly bored and inwardly astonished at how bad his luck had been during this visit. "To what do I owe the honor of your company?" He placed his downloading e-reader on the table and leaned back in his chair steadily regarding his unwelcome visitor.

"I see you've been doing some retail therapy," she said pointing at his bags and boxes with a strange little smile. "You and Tony have a fight?"

Mask fully in place he answered her, "No Agent Romanoff, I have not fought with Tony. I wanted to get a few last minute presents for my mother."

"So where's Tony," she asked, grabbing his closed menu and pointing out her order to the waitress who had just approached the table. "And coffee, black."

Loki shook his head "Still asleep I imagine," he told her. "Pancakes, bacon, home fries, orange juice and water please," Loki said, looking up at the waitress with a perfectly distracting smile, eyes crinkled up in good humor.

"Right away," the woman said with a wide grin, before hurrying away, only to stop at the kitchen service hatch to peer back at him.

"So…" Romanoff tipped her head a bit, regarding him with slightly narrowed eyes. "You didn't have a fight with Tony, and he is currently sleeping. Neither of which are lies… You didn't look very happy in the store or while you were waiting here to order… Yet you felt a need to charm the waitress once I sat down… So what is wrong with his picture?"

"What is wrong is that my queue has finished downloading. Do you have an e-reader Agent Romanoff?"

"Yes."

Loki handed her the reader. "Then start downloading books and I will talk to you. Anything garden, historic, romantic or biographic that you think my mother might like." When she made no move to pick up the reader he continued. "Or I will continue to do it and ignore you."

That did it; Natasha picked up the reader and started tapping links. "You know, I've heard the food here is kind of hit or miss."

"I'm not hungry, so I don't really care." He told her pulling his purchases under the table so they wouldn't be in anyone's way. Natasha's eyes flicked up at him.

"So why are you out here, without a handler? What are you doing on Earth? Why shouldn't we just arrest you?"

Loki snickered blackly. "Go ahead and try Agent Romanoff. There is no one on earth right now who is more watched than I am. If I miss my curfew, the All Father himself will be down here within the hour to retrieve me. If I miss it through no fault of my own, then his not inconsiderate wrath will fall on someone beside myself."

Loki leaned forward and whispered to her in wicked glee, "Please. Arrest me. Take me back to your heli-carrier. Take me to a secure SWORD facility." He brushed a strand of his long inky black hair behind an ear. "Of course I personally wouldn't take me to any location you are… fond of. As I doubt very much it would escape without a great deal of damage."

"Ah, breakfast." He winked at the waitress as she sat down their breakfast. Taking a sip of his juice he nodded at Natasha, "I think your downloads are finished, you need to queue more books."

Natasha insisted on accompanying him back to Stark Tower. So instead of the cab he had planned on riding back in, he rode with her in a SWORD vehicle with two other agents in the front seat. Fortunately for Loki's mood, Jarvis refused to allow her or the agents out of the parking garage and sent the tower security personnel down in Stark's private elevator. They expertly pried Loki and his packages away from the agents. Stark had a habit of firing the ones who let SWORD do anything without a court order.

Loki thanked the agents, kissed Natasha's hand and finally made it unmolested into the elevator. The security guards only rode with him until they reached the first floor. Loki rode the rest of the way in silence, Jarvis scanning him and his belongings for listening devices.

Loki's spirits descended even as the elevator rose to his old floor.

OoooO

A short time after returning his wallet and watch to his old room, Loki entered Stark's bedroom silently. It had taken him a few minutes to talk Jarvis into letting him in, but finally the AI decided that the benefit to his master outweighed a general privacy order. Especially since Loki still had authorization to be anywhere in the tower he wanted to be, at any time he wanted to go there.

Holding his hand in readiness over her face, he gently shook the red head's shoulder. He had to do it two more times before she woke up with a slight start at the sight of a man standing over her. That it was not the man she had fucked before she fell asleep doubtless made it more bewildering. His hand ghosted over her lips in the low light of the bedroom and he whispered in her ear, "I do apologize, but you need to get up now."

"Quietly," he softly admonished her, averting his eyes politely and handing her a robe. He pointed to her clothes, purse and shoes neatly placed on the bench at the bottom of the bed. After she had gathered her belongings, Loki guided her to the door, "There is a powder room right beside the elevator. Turn left, you can't miss it. I've left the light on for you. Go down to the first floor, Security has been notified you are coming, they will pay for a cab to take you home."

Bewildered, but uncomplaining the robe clad woman started to exit the room, but then stopped in the doorway and looked up at him.

"Who are you?" She whispered nervously, lifting her free hand to try and detangle her wild, bed head hair.

"The boyfriend." He whispered back.

At her look of horror, Loki gifted her with a lopsided grin. "Trust me; you need to get out of here as quickly as possible. It might get very ugly, very soon."

She fled quietly down the hallway, her bare feet softly slapping on the marble flooring was the only noise she made.

Loki smiled faintly and quietly closed and locked the door.

OoooO

Tony was impatiently pacing in his living room when that incredibly bright light that was the hallmark of interstellar, or at least Asgardian travel flashed onto his terrace. His penthouse looked festive and welcoming and he had made sure that Pepper was in town and would be available in a couple of hours for dinner. A dinner that was not going to be 'take out' this year. Instead, the billionaire had a whole pack of chefs and their assistants down in the big industrial kitchen on his party floor beavering away on tonight's dinner. Additionally a famous dessert chef and his assistants were making dozens of different kinds of one-shot and mini desserts to appeal to the god of mischief's sweet tooth. Several of each so Pepper and Loki wouldn't fight over their favorites.

A freaking truck load of packages waited, already packed in large military equipment duffle bags by the terrace door. So many packages in fact that the minute he saw the lights descending, Tony shouldered two of them and staggered out to the scored landing site. He was going to send part of Loki's loot back with Heimdall, just to ease the logistics of transporting it. Not being anyone's fool of course, despite recent evidence to the contrary, the engineer had labeled the outside of the duffels to Frigga's attention. He doubted very much that anyone would interfere with items addressed to Asgard's queen.

Tony had everything planned to be the perfect apology.

Everything except for what to do when Heimdall appeared on the landing site with Thor instead of Loki.

**Chapter 1b – Completely and totally screwed**

Tony had seen the video recordings. Even heard what Loki had whispered to the redhead lying beside him, and yes Tony was well aware that high gain, high fidelity cameras were not normally a part of anyone else's security installation. Anyhow, Loki apparently had not intended to create a scene, in fact he didn't even try to wake Tony up at all.

All in all it should have been hilarious, her expression as she woke and was handed her clothes by a man she hadn't slept with, the deadpan way Loki had just whipped out the whole, 'I'm the boyfriend' statement and her taking off like a scared bunny, robe flapping behind her as she accelerated down the hallway. And doubtless it would have gone into Tony's favorite clip file if not for all the non-funny stuff that had followed.

After showing her out of the room, Loki had walked over to the bed, his unconcerned, slightly smug, Loki mask firmly in place. The god just stood there, looking down at the sleeping Tony for several minutes. While his expression was neutral enough, the slight slump of that normally straight back told Tony that his god-buddy was upset.

Eventually, Loki had given the faintest of sighs and gone over to sit on the now vacant side of the bed. After a moment…and a highly suspicious pass of his hand over his eyes, the trickster had taken Tony's wrist and placed a glowing disk and his palm over Frigga's rune. Loki just sat there with his head bowed while the mini light show of the rune recharging took place. After the light had dissipated, the god had gotten up, pocketing the spent stone. He then straightened up those wide shoulders of his and walked out of the room, eyes straight ahead.

Jarvis' cameras had followed him as he walked through the living room where he picked up his bags without looking at them and immediately walked to the BiFrost pad calling for Heimdall.

After a minute or two, the only evidence that the trickster had been on Midgard at all was the surveillance video of his footsteps slowly filling in with falling snow. Footsteps that had been gone by the time Tony had realized what had happened and raced out to the terrace in sweat pants and t-shirt and bare feet to look up at the cloud covered sky.

**Chapter 1c – Why are you here? **

When he had woken up that morning, Tony had not even realized there had been a problem. Yeah, his bed was empty. But there were plenty of women who decided to slip out early enough that they could get home in their evening wear with dignity. After all, very few people actually liked an early morning walk of shame. And it wasn't like Tony's reputation gave any of them hope that if they stuck around long enough, they might get a chance to be his one true love. Because he was Tony Stark and he was never going to hook up with a one night stand, no matter how good they looked.

So he had eventually rolled out of bed, enjoyed several minutes of after sex stretching, taken a shower, gotten dressed…as much as he ever dressed when he was just going to get a cup of coffee and strolled barefoot out to the living room.

"Morning Jarvis."

"Actually it is afternoon, sir," His AI replied in a slightly testy tone. "Agent Romanoff will be here in a little over an hour, she has left you several messages. Also, Ms. Potts would like you to call her as soon as possible.

Crap. While there may be a lot of things worse than an unexpected visit by Natasha, offhand Tony just couldn't think of any.

"I need a damn drink and I need my caffeine. I refuse to have an early morning, or even mid-afternoon visit with the red menace without at least one spiked coffee in me." Tony huffed stomping over to the bar and reaching under it for something to splash in his coffee.

In the place where he had last left the whiskey, there were several very odd bottles. For convenience, each lower shelf had a motion sensor activated light strip. So the second that Tony reached under the bar, he was able to get a really good look at those odd, other worldly bottles sitting where his scotch should have been, as well as a pile of t-shirts and some plush toys sitting beside them.

And that is when the Tony's day went from crap to completely and totally fucked.

Sliding to the floor because his legs wouldn't hold him, Tony crouched there burying his face in his hands.

"Javis," he croaked pitifully, "please, please, please tell me that Loki is still in the tower."

"Unfortunately sir, he was under his normal twelve hour time constraint and left at his usual time, six forty-five a.m." Jarvis replied in a severely disapproving voice before continuing. "I did try numerous times to contact you sir, and also tried to tell you when you arrived with your…companion." The AI paused a moment when Tony clutched his head in pain, but then continued relentlessly. "Unfortunately, you muted me and I was unable to say anything to you when you failed to notice all of the items you had laid out for him were gone."

_Okay, this was bad_.

"Ah...where was he when I got home?" Tony asked, not able to take his mental vision off the train wreck that was yesterday.

"Just on the other side of the terrace window sir, watching you exit the elevator."

_Yeah, it had been too much to hope that maybe he had been in the lab. _

"Please tell me he didn't sit out there all night waiting for his ride home," Tony begged, knowing that he was the worst friend and the most insensitive lover ever. Not that this should be anything unknown to him by now…but still, it's no wonder he never had an intimate relationship that lasted. Hell, even his second go round with Pepper had lasted less than a year before she couldn't take him again. And she was his best friend.

She always said it was the danger, but he bet it was that heaped on top of all the other crap Tony had made her put up with.

"No, sir. He went out."

"Christ." Tony breathed, rocking forward on his knees and grabbing the top of the bar for support.

"By himself? Out where, Jarvis?"

_One god damn day a year I need to be attentive and I can't even fucking manage that. Not even the whole god damn day either, just twelve fucking hours_, he told himself angrily. _I am lower than fucking pond-scum. _

"He had several locations in mind sir, I know he visited one of them, but I am not sure where he was after that." Javis said somewhat evasively.

"So where did he go?" Tony asked fighting the sick feeling that threatened to rise within him.

Deciding he had spent enough time on the floor behind bar, Tony grabbed a handy, but not other worldly bottle and pulled himself up, coffee forgotten he made his way to the couch as Jarvis continued.

"He spent at least two hours that I can be sure of in an electronics store, where he went other than that, I'm not sure. He must have been spending cash." Jarvis said reprovingly. Jarvis hated not being able to track people because they were spending cash. He often became quite snippy with Tony on those rare occasions when he used cash rather than one of his cards.

"So he didn't say where else he wanted to go?"

"Originally he was trying to decide between a bar or a whorehouse, finding an all-night electronics store was an afterthought. But I thought it best that he at least begin there, so I ordered a cab to deposit him at that address. He refused to take a cell phone so I was unable to keep better track of his locations."

Tony moaned closing his eyes in pain and let his head drop heavily on the back of the couch.

"Additionally, sir, before Mister Odinson would spend anything at the store, he asked me to total up the cost of all the items he had been provided with over the years and deduct that amount from his account to repay you. I have made a note of the incoming credit in your expense file."

If Jarvis had a body, Tony was pretty sure the AI would have slapped him in the back of the head by now.

And as if dealing with a disapproving Jarvis wasn't bad enough, afterwards he had to deal with the ladies. Tony was hard put to say which reaming was worse.

Knowing a lot of the back ground, including some of the intimate stuff, Pepper hit some points that were like knife thrusts to the gut. Natasha on the other hand, while she was not privy to as much inside information, made some disturbingly good guesses and was able to detail the absolute devastation she observed before Loki had known she was watching him. Tony's luck being the way it was, neither lady spared him any of their thoughts on how big an asshole they considered him. Worse still, this was apparently going to be a bellwether moment in his life. Now whenever Pepper thought Tony was being not as helpful as he could have been she had taken to muttering stuff along the lines of 'He can't even get it together once a year, what was **_I_** expecting?'

OoooO

While Tony continued to receive his 'Queen Frigga Facilitated' monthly communications from Loki, they were all now project related. The only one he'd received all year that hadn't concerned the project was a short hand written note from Loki to let Tony know what day his rune would be renewed.

Jumping on news of Loki impending visit, like a starving cat on a discarded fish head, Tony had an entire evening planned. Groveling. Catered dinner. Groveling. Scrumptious deserts. Groveling. Bribes, err… Rather say presents not bribes. After all that he figured he would wind up the evening with just a bit more groveling. When Pepper pointed out that he had never gone to quite this much trouble when she was mad at him, Tony informed her that he hadn't needed quite the same full court press with her since she never vanished off the face of the Earth twelve hours later.

The penthouse was decorated for the 'Yule Holiday' to the hilt and if he said so himself, it looked incredible. Tony and Jarvis had checked all the preparations several times and everything was set to go off without a hitch…

Until Thor showed up instead of Loki.

OoooO

Tony was devastated.

Thor.

Tony didn't want to see Thor, he wanted to see Loki.

The billionaire had worried that this year's visit might be awkward, but he hadn't imagined that Loki would miss it all together.

"Hey Thor…ummm, where's Loki? Is he coming later?" Tony asked, heart sinking at the improbability of that happening. "Please take these to the queen, Goldie," He handed the duffle bags off to the surprised Heimdall with barely a glance in his direction.

"Friend Tony, I can take those back with me when I leave." Thor reached out his hands to grab the duffle bag straps, but Tony slapped his them away.

"Leave it, big guy, there's a ton of other stuff that needs to be taken back, let the shiny dude take these to your mom. It will be two bags we don't have to worry about later." Practically pushing the bags at the freakishly large Asgardian, Tony took a deep breath and tried to shove down his panic before addressing the large blonde god in front of him.

"Thor," Tony almost whined. "Where's Loki?"

"Thank you, Heimdall, please make sure those make it to the queen safely." Thor said, sparing the watcher only a briefest glance before grabbing Tony's upper arm and pulling the unresisting engineer towards the penthouse doors.

Once they had threaded through the various duffle bags just inside the terrace doors, Thor allowed Tony to shake off his grip. Leaning his hammer against the wall, and dropping the two duffle bags he had brought from Asgard, the god walked over and dropped onto the nearest sofa. He looked up at the ceiling for several long moments, obviously marshaling his thoughts before shifting his gaze to the scowling inventor who was standing cross armed in front of him.

"Where. Is. Loki?"

Thor rubbed a tired hand over his face. "Tony, please give me your arm and then I will explain everything." He request in a low weary voice, reaching out for Tony's right hand.

Glaring at muscle bound blonde, Tony thrust his right hand forward peevishly. Thor briefly examined the faded rune, before placing his hand, with one of Queen Frigga's disks over it to recharge the mark.

"Just for your information my friend, you should know this does not always have to be done every year. The protections will last as long as the rune is visible. The darker the rune, the more power is available to ward off aging, injuries or illness."

"Don't care, Thor. Where's your brother?" Tony demanded flatly.

Releasing the genius' hand, Thor looked sadly up at him and asked beseechingly. "I know you and Loki are still writing back and forth monthly. Did he say nothing of the deal he made with Odin last year right after he returned?"

Tony's heart sank thinking about the many deals Odin had offered the trickster. _Please not marriage; please not a ban from Midgard. Please! _

"Ah. No. He's only been discussing business with me. I was kind of bastard last year, and your brother, rightfully so, is pretty miffed with me."

"Oh. Perhaps that is why." Thor muttered slowly, his frown deepening. "Last year, shortly after he returned from his trip he told the All Father he would accept a return of some of his magic, in exchange for not taking this year's trip to Midgard."

"Oh." Tony said in a small voice.

Thor's smile was rueful, "My brother is quite the bargainer, he stipulated that his magic be returned that very day. He regained his abilities to do scrying, so he could check on progress at the work site or any of the material suppliers even if he was in the library or otherwise occupied. Of course the All Father wished him to wait until his next trip was scheduled for this ability to be returned, but Loki told him if he had to wait a year, he'd take the trip. So father relented."

Thor gave a sad chuckle. "I think many of the things that Loki does; Midgard, battle dance, avoiding the feasts, refusing a rich wife, not speaking to anyone…I think they are perhaps done to aggravate father and give him an incentive to bribe Loki to quit doing them."

"Yeah, well your bro is the tricky one that way."

_But not Midgard._

We aren't a contrived irritation, Loki really likes coming here, Loki didn't want to leave. He wants to return here, to… Us… Tony told himself stoutly, but unable to keep a tiny thrill of doubt from running down his spine. Trickster god after all. Maybe he set up his reluctance to leave and his insistence on returning up as part of a long con on Odin. Or Tony.

But Tony really, really didn't even want to consider that. He needed to think of something else.

"Bribes? But Loki's a prince, he doesn't need a rich-" Tony tried to say with certainly, only to be interrupted by Thor.

"No... My friend, Loki no longer has estates. His original…Transgression my mother calls it, was deemed treason and his properties and valuables were confiscated to the crown. He has no personal revenues."

"Oh." Tony's heart sank. He recalled the simple clothes that Loki had taken to wearing once he returned to Asgard. The god had claimed he preferred less fussy clothes now. But what if those were the only things he had to wear? A possibility that was more than likely and something Tony should have considered earlier if he had bothered to use his supposedly genius brain. After all it had surprised Tony to see the Trickster actually wearing an Avenger's sweatshirt during one of his previous visits. Factoring in Loki's previous distain for Earthgardian causal wear and the god's own preference and delight in fine clothing indicated clearly that, genius or not… Tony was an idiot for not making the connection.

"Everything, Thor?" He asked in a small voice. "So where does he get the money to live? Do they pay him for his work on the BiFrost?"

"No, Tony, he is a prisoner working on a task for Asgard. Mother tried to provide him with a stipend out of her personal funds, but Loki refused. He did not want to get her in anymore trouble with father. The only exception is that he has asked her to purchase various items for you." Thor pointed to the two duffle bags he had brought. "Technically those items are listed on her expense accounts as retainer payments for you as her personal servitor." The Thunderer sighed distractedly tracing the seam where a leather inset joined the cloth of his trousers. He looked up at the very distressed Tony. "Due to safety concerns he lives in his old rooms and is of course provided with the same clothing, personal care items and food that the servants receive. With the exception of proper garb on those rare times he is bidden to attend dinner with the court. Mother had been forbidden to supply him with anything else. He is after all no longer a prince, but rather a crown prisoner."

OoooO

**Chapter 1d Introspection and Ice packs**

Somehow, and he wasn't exactly sure how he managed to do it, Tony had convinced Thor that it would be a shame not to see Jane while he was on Earth. Jarvis, bless his circuits, had only taken ten minutes to contact Jane, set up a date for her and Pikachu and get a Boston based helicopter in the air to snatch her up from the grounds of MIT.

It wasn't like Tony had any appetite right now, so someone ought to benefit from all the awesome arrangements he had made. A little part of him hoped that maybe Thor would be impressed and tell Loki about all of the trouble that Tony had gone through in order to apologize to the dark haired god. Additionally, it kept Thor close at hand so Tony could talk to him again before he was zapped back up to fairy land.

Which left them all here; Thunder Pants was down on the party floor, no doubt bothering the crap out of the chefs. Jane was scheduled to be delivered to the Tower's landing pad in just over an hour for a romantic gourmet dinner and possibly a night of whoopee in one of the guest rooms with Thor. And Tony desperately trying to think through a killer stress headache while slumped at the kitchen table shifting an ice pack from one temple to the other.

_Trying being the key word in that whole thought. Come on Stark, _he berated himself_, you're a fucking genius, so genius your skank cheating ass out of this one. _

Even though Tony was a genius and an Olympic caliber, **second to none** bull-shitter who could pretty much talk or figure his way out of anything given time and opportunity… The problem was… This problem being…

Tony wiped his eyes on the damp terrycloth sleeve covering his half-melted ice pack. Not because he was tearing up or anything, but more because his eyes were suddenly burning and the cool dampness felt good.

_Fuck it. _

The problem was that there was no damn way for him to talk with Loki. Oh hell yeah he could talk _at_ him, but he couldn't talk _to_ him. Fuck knows he'd tried, but not one of the messages of a personal nature that he'd sent to Asgard during the last year had been responded to in any way. Hell he was pretty sure Loki hadn't even listened to most of them. After four months of no replies from Loki other than those pertaining to their various projects, Tony had started mixing the answers to Loki's project questions with numerous personal messages in the voice, video and data files he sent to Asgard. Loki had never answered any of them and merely restated his own in the Q&A file that they passed back and forth. By the sixth month Tony had started leaving apologies in that file. At first they were simply deleted and when he tried copy protecting them so that Loki couldn't delete them the god created another file and everything, except for them, had been copied over to it.

The worst thing was that in the last seven years that Loki has been on Asgard Tony, had mostly gotten out of the habit of listening to music while he worked. Prior to his being an ass, every month Tony had gotten thirty personal recordings that the god had made for him. Additionally during the day, Loki would often turn on a hidden microphone. The god would then occasionally rant about something project related that was making his life difficult, or tell Tony something that had occurred to him that they might want to think about. However most of the time Loki would softly explain what he was doing; verbalizing all of his actions or thoughts on whatever task he was currently working on. Occasionally Loki would reference a file name so Jarvis could integrate a picture or short video into their official project transcript while popping it up on a screen for Tony to look at. Who knew what Loki's guards and workers thought about him constantly mumbling or occasionally doing whatever it was he did to hide the fact that he was taking a picture or short video.

Listening to Loki's work recordings had been like a soothing but extremely thought provoking Asgardian version of NPR's _'All things Considered'_. Every evening before he went to sleep for the night Loki made him a video, usually running for between thirty minutes and an hour. It was like a Denis Leary version of the Prairie Home Companion meets Ted Talks. Snark, basic news, storytelling and tech talk all done in that sinfully delicious accent of Loki's. While Fury would kill for some of the stuff that Loki was sharing about what was going on in Asgard and the other Realms, Tony just liked listening to the god's take on what was going on around him and as a visual reference of how Loki was looking and feeling that particular day.

However, now he didn't get any kind of additional comments. Furthermore, for the past year even Loki's work sessions recordings were short, concise, to the point and completely project related, not even background speculation on various theory's. The more personal, recorded evening chats, with a visual of the god? Those had stopped completely. That was why Tony had been so excited that there was finally a note from Loki that wasn't project related. Admittedly it hadn't been much of a note, just a notification that Tony's rune renewal would take place as scheduled and that a date had been set for it to happen.

Tony had figured he was in for an evening of major begging and apologies on his part and frankly a lot of justified screaming on Loki's. Hence all the presents and the scrumptious dinner and dessert plans. Tony figured he would intersperse bribes, which Loki was always open too, with heartfelt begging for forgiveness. One of the two had been bound to work. He never figured that Loki would be so mad that he would stop coming completely and send Thor instead.

"Sir, Ms Potts wishes to know what time she is expected for dinner." Groaning Tony slumped over his kitchen table and buried his head in his arms. He had promised Pep a great dinner this evening.

Tipping his face sideways, so he wasn't talking into his ice pack Tony started issuing instructions. His voice was washed out and watery.

"Jarvis, ask the chefs when dinner is going to be ready and have them plate two meals and for Minon to bring up here. Make sure they also send up several desserts that Pepper would like. Chocolate ones for sure, maybe if we get enough chocolate in her she won't kill me. Let her know there was a change in plans, but tell her I really need to talk to her. Time it so that Pep and dinner arrives at the same time. Let her in when it gets here and give me a five minutes heads up before she arrives."

**Chapter 1e - Let's make a deal Asgard Style**

As private retreats went, this one was a pretty good one. The theme was all stone and gold, like every room he had seen so far while here, but the woven hangings and tapestries softened it up quite a bit, and added a nice touch of color.

"Starkson, I received your message and thought it best for you to come talk with me in person."

Frigga was sitting in, what on Earth would be called a throne; here apparently it was just some place for the queen to rest her hiney while talking to guests. But as large and ornate as it was, Frigga owned the damn thing. But then he supposed it wasn't like she would have a floral wingback or a rocking recliner or anything in her private audience chamber.

"Please, call me Tony," he told her yet again. "After all we're almost family; or rather we will be if we can iron out a few details." Tony gave her an endearing smile.

She looked at both of them a moment. "I admit I was not expecting you to bring your consort to this meeting."

"Old news your Majesty. Ms. Potts is the CEO of my company, we are no longer consorting."

"Anthony!" Pepper hissed giving his blue suit jacket an admonitory tug. "Be serious."

"Ah, your union has been legally dissolved?" Frigga's eyes shifted back and forth between the two of them, watching intently.

"Actually your Majesty, we never finalized it."

Frigga sat back in her throne with a low, 'Hummmm'.

"So what exactly are you proposing Stark- Tony, I have your document, but I would hear it in your own words."

"I am proposing an alliance between my house and yours." He smiled at the queen with his most winning Tony Stark smile.

The smile he only pulled out when he was in real trouble with Pepper.

"A union without the possibility of producing an heir is not legal in Asgard."

"Well then I guess it's a good thing that Loki can shape shift into a female at any given time, huh? I mean if he can bear a horse, shifting so that he can bear a mortal child should be no trouble for him… or her… at all."

She frowned, "Loki is a shape shifter and can become female of course, but he can also shift to his natural state which is both. It is a Jotun trait that carried over. It was once not unheard of even in Æsir Seiðr masters who were male."

"So yay. Two ways that he could have a kid…" Tony hastily corrected himself after a puzzled look flitted across the queen's face, "I mean child. He has ability to have a child. Not that he has to, or I want him to, just that he can fulfill the Asgardian legal requirement to allow the union. So it's all good."

"Why? Why are you proposing this alliance? What makes you think the All Father will entertain your suit?" Frigga fixed Tony will a gimlet stare. "And fond as I am of you Anthony Stark, what makes you think I will support your cause?"

Tony smirked. "I think I can come up with a few advantages that might interest Loki-dad. As for your support…. Oh, I don't know, perhaps because I have a proven track record of keeping your baby boy safe, even from himself… Also from the stories he's told me over the years, with only the occasional minor hiccup-"

A strangled cough interrupted him.

"Shut it Pep. As I was saying, Loki had told me that he's been happier with seeing me even only once a year than with any other Asgardian he's interacted with in the last few centuries. Family aside I'm sure."

Frigga voice was incredulous. "Minor hiccup?"

"Okay fine, the last one was a doozy, but I'll do anything to fix that. Including hauling my ass to another realm and pledging a complete life style change to try to make things right."

OoooO

Despite the over the top tackiness of Asgard in general, the throne room is impressive. And in the several minutes that Odin has been staring at him, totally distracting. Pepper nudged Tony back to full awareness as Odin broke the silence.

"Why should I believe that you are the best person for Asgard to form an alliance between us and Midgard by way of Loki becoming allied with your house?" Odin asked, sitting on his huge big gold, oh so very gold throne, looking down his nose like every petty dictator in every Grade-B sci-fi movie ever made. It was the robe that did it. Seriously whoever thought that was a good look on an old dude? It was like an elaborately embroidered nightshirt with armour over the chest. It just didn't work. Honestly, you almost expected the guy to be wearing a pair of wicked good slippers from L.L. Bean.

Apparently big daddy Odin was still pissed that Tony had been Frigga's go to guy when Asgard had their little prison abuse problem. Or maybe Od-meister was still bent because Tony was the reason that Loki was rocking some serious Tech-Magic these days.

_Tech stuff that is so old school as far as Asgard is concerned that Old One Eye couldn't ever hope to understand_, he thought smugly.

Tony, Pepper, Odin, Frigga, Thor and a surprised-slash-distraught Loki were all in the throne room. They were alone, now that the guards that normally stood at the foot of the throne had been temporarily banished to the hallway.

"Maybe because I don't want to join with your son, I want to ally myself with your wife's daughter." Tony rolled his eyes a bit at the grimace Odin was throwing down at him. "Okay… daughter for a certain value of the word as it applies to Loki here."

"And what makes you think we would agree to this? Loki's union with a mortal?"

"I don't see why you wouldn't; you're all but advertising him for sale to the highest bidder." Tony snapped, managing not to flinch at the reaction his word received.

Which was far from easy with the ominous rumble of Thor's thunder overhead, the harsh objections of two of the biggest fucking ravens Tony has ever seen, not to mention Loki's growl and flesh stripping glare.

Refusing to be cowed Tony's voice was slow and hard, "I am Tony Stark, I **_will not_** be out bid. Especially not by a couple of two bit princesses with no power at all, even in their own families, let alone their realms. Ladies you can't even get him to agree to court in the first place, I might add."

"And what makes you think he will be any more receptive towards your suit?" Odin asked, annoyed but curious.

"How about because he already is," Tony told the king with a confident smile.

"Was. As in past tense," Loki said frostily.

Odin pinned the darker prince with a stare. "Loki, I will ask for your input when I want it." Odin ignored the temper that flared in the younger prince's furious green eyes, continuing in the same implacable tone, "Until then, you will remain silent. Do you understand?"

"Do you, All Father. understand that I am not a brood mare to be sold to whoever wants to upgrade their family stock?"

Pepper and Odin both were vying for who had the most heartfelt sigh of exasperation.

_Well there was no doubt in he's still majorly peeved at me,_ Tony thought, knowing in his heart that this was going to get ugly before it was all finished.

"My lady, I would suggest that you and the princes retire to your private hall. I would have a private discussion with this petitioner." He glanced over at Tony, "Would you like the Lady Potts to stay with them also?"

Tony laughed, "Oh hell no. Lady Potts is my chief advisor; I think she needs to stay with me. Besides she had documents I think you would want to see."

OoooO

It had taken several minutes to extricate themselves from the protesting Frigga and Loki. Thor was no help at all there, since his mother ignored the Thunderer and continued to argue in an undertone with Odin and Thor's efforts to calm his brother had pretty much the opposite effect. Finally, Odin had simply beckoned them to follow him, walked to a door near the rear of the throne and waved them through shutting it firmly on the other three.

Odin of course sat at the head of the small conference table with Tony on his left and Pepper sitting right beside Tony. Leaning back, his chair looking much more comfortable than Tony's chair, Odin calmly asked, "Why?"

"Why not?" Tony shot back. "Hey. I understand that you might not appreciate it, which is really good because if you did that would be more than creepy, but Loki is a really decorative kinda guy." Shaking his head at the disbelief in Odin's eye, he continued. "Maybe not here, where muscle bound blondes seem to be in vogue. But he has that whole Metrosexual slash Rock of Ages thing going on for him." Tony paused as if pondering something important and then said contemplatively, "With maybe just a touch of your more dangerous goth."

And that is the part Tony really like. The dangerous part, not the goth, although if anyone could rock the goth black makeup and clothes, it would be his Loki.

"I couldn't get any traction with him while he was imprisoned on Ear-, Midgard, which makes sense, because technically I was his jailer. So that was just not flying for him, and quite honestly I perfectly understood." He flashed Odin a toothy grin, "But afterwards we got along quite well… And since you guys are looking to unload the cost of caring and feeding one princely prisoner. To be specific your younger prince who is already considered to be egri for being a master of magic… I figured we could make a deal. I'm looking for a magic using asset for my company. Loki already has proven value as a researcher and is pretty damn hot to look at, which is a bonus as far as I am concerned."

Odin raised his hand, index finger tapping his lips. Since he knew he was babbling, and that was a pretty clear instruction to hush, Tony decided to see what his Odin-ness wanted to say.

"This isn't just about money."

"Of course not," Tony grinned nastily, "That's just something you're tossing in to try to get Loki to agree with your plans. It's really about you keeping control of an asset. You want to find some leverage on your youngest that won't end up with you sleeping on the couch because you've got mommy upset about how her baby boy is being treated.

Tony had spent years letting Fury's moods roll off of him, so the evil look that Odin was currently tossing his way was not really enough to slow him down.

Although he did make a mental note not to mention Frigga anymore, if he can at all avoid it.

Sensing that Tony was treading on thin ice, Pepper pulled out a sheaf of papers denoting what Tony had already sent to Asgard as surety for his proposal and passed it to Odin.

Odin paused a moment, the brick color fading during the time it took him to read Pepper's proposal. When he was finished, he was once again wearing his calm and impassive 'King of Kings' expression.

After nudging Tony warningly, Pepper passed two other folders over to the king. One was a partial review of Tony's personal net worth. Partial, because even that was impressive and Pepper believed in never giving anyone the full story on that if she could avoid it. The other was a rundown of the assets Tony had in place already that could prevent the god of mischief from getting himself and Asgard by extension into any more trouble when he was on Midgard.

"How is this even necessary?" Odin asked, tapping the second folder. "His currently abilities should not require such precautions to be in place."

"Hey, I'm willing to pay full price, but I want the whole magic package." Tony said firmly. "Besides, it will sweeten Loki on the deal. Heck you can even take credit for it. Tell him it's a betrothal gift or some damn thing."

Seeing that Odin was looking less thoughtful than he had been a few minutes ago, Tony decided to sweeten the deal for him too.

"Look, there has to be some damn rune or something I could use to track him if he decides to take a jaunt yes? And Frigga certainly couldn't object too much if I agreed to a tracking rune to make Earthgardian officials more comfortable with him being back on earth."

They sat there in silence several long minutes, Odin's hands resting on the dark glossy wood of the table while he pondered.

"One other thing, I can offer," Tony said quietly. "I already know that being Yotim doesn't automatically translate to shape shifter." Odin started almost imperceptibly.

"Apparently Loki is both. Unlike the other contenders I don't care that he is a Yotim. Also you don't have to worry that I'll ever tell anyone or make a fuss about it at a later date if the news ever gets out. I understand that this little tidbit of information would be a total deal breaker for the other contenders and their families. Even if they found out about the whole Yotim thing after the fact and not just because it means that Loki's adopted and not _really_ part of the royal family.

Tony raised both hands placatingly at the fury sliding across Odin's face. "But I don't care about the adoption thing either. In fact I think you need to tell him about both soon in order to avoid a repeat of what happened last time when he found out by accident. And I promise to get him as much help as I can to be okay with that."

"Earth has lots of Doctor's, err… Healers trained to help people to learn to accept emotional problems like being adopted and other... things in a healthy way." Pepper trailed off when Odin swung his head her way.

Looking pained, Odin's voice rumbled as if coming from a long way away, "What do you know about the Jötnar Son of Stark?"

Tony looked at Pepper, knowing she was also remembering that conversation. She exchanged a quick glance with him and then she shrugged and looked back at Odin, "Loki's one and he doesn't know it anymore, but it is apparently horrible enough to him that when he originally found out he went crazy and tried to kill his brother. His rather unusual gender comes from that heritage, but other Asgardian magic users in the past have also had the same condition due to their Yotim ancestors. And for some reason Loki and Thor both sometimes use it as a swear word," Pepper recited, as if reading from an internal list.

"You forgot, Loki tried to blow up their country when he found out," Tony reminded her. "So apparently something about them makes him bat-shit crazy."

"It is pronounced Jotun, Anthony Stark. Many powerful seiðmenn originally came from Jotunheim, if their realm was not so harsh, requiring all their attention, they would most likely rule many of the nine realms. Loki however is only half Jotun, his mother Fárbauti, while not of the highest ranking Æsir, was a very gifted seiðr user."

Odin pulled a smirk that was pure Fury. It must be the one eye thing that made Odin look like a pasty faced Fury with hair. "Jotun's are normally blue skinned with solid red eyes and ten foot tall. Loki inherited the blue skin and the red eyes, but his size favored his mother.

"Really? So where did the black hair and green eyes come from? Not that there is anything wrong with those." Tony asked curiously, not that Tony didn't think they looked more than fine on the mischief maker. "We can't all have blonde hair and blue eyes you know."

His eye bored into Tony's, "Those are not Loki's birth features, rather a combination of his personal seiðr and his maternal inheritance. However as long as his partner does not have any Jotun at all in their ancestry, Loki's children are unlikely to have a Jotun appearance." He looked at Tony with a very calculating look, as if considering something about Tony's one hundred percent mortal ancestry that had just brought itself to his attention. "Tell me Starkson, how do you feel about having children?"

_Funny he and Pepper had had just this same conversation a few days ago. "Fuck it Pepper, they don't care about him marrying some foreign princess. They just want him to have a handle they can grab to hold in case he starts to cause trouble or decides to leave when his sentence is finished."_

_"And you Tony? Do you want to be that leverage for Asgard? What about heirs? Don't you think you might like to be a father someday?" _

_"Why? And fuck up some kid, like my father fucked me up? Like his did to him? Besides if I'm going to live for hundreds of years, why do I need an heir? And if I do, well, he's had kids before. Our smarts and our looks, our kids would be gods."_

_"So that's what you want Tony?" Pepper asked sourly, "to be the father of a god?" _

_Tony froze. How did he feel about having kids? He didn't even want to think about them, he had been very careful his whole life in order to avoid having them. He had even managed to train himself to be sure he was protected against having any, even when he was blind drunk and unable to walk. _

"Mister Stark's board of directors have been pressing him for some years about a succession plan due to his lack of heirs." Pepper offered quickly, glancing briefly at Tony and widening her eyes slightly in warning before turning her attention back to the elder god.

"Stark International has facilities in all of the major countries in our world and makes a profit of over twenty billion dollars a year, we have several thousand employees. As Mister Stark owns more than half of the company and is its chief innovator, it is extremely important that we have a worthy successor. And to ensure our continued survival we need Mister Stark to have time to properly train his heirs and provide us with an orderly transfer of power to them. While still of course being around to assist or advise as necessary."

"What she said," Tony said, trying not to look like a deer in the headlights.

"So you are planning on having heirs soon?"

"Errrr…"

Odin was watching him with an intense concentration, trying to, but hopefully not succeeding in divining Tony's inner thoughts.

"Ah… That depends. I don't want just any heir, my father was a genius, I'm a genius, I want my heir to be a genius. Now Loki is also a genius and I might add smoking hot… Coupled with my handsome face and together we should have some seriously gorgeous, scary smart kids. I could live with that.

_Okay…_ Tony did and didn't like that weird assed light that was shining now in Odin's eye. That, '_All my plans are coming together'_ kind of gleam. This had to be bullshit, since there was no way Odin could have known he would do something as stupid as propose marriag… An _alliance_ with Loki. Hell he didn't even know thar he was going to do it at first.

On the other hand, Tony had seen that look many, many times when a deal was close to being stuck. It was a _'Let's see how far I can push'_ look. Apparently Odin was now very interested. So unless Tony was seriously misreading the Space Viking King, it would be Tony's deal to lose.

TBC

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This is a continuation of Queens Grace which became so long I was losing my mind and my place when even opening up the file.

**TRIGGER WARNINGS** – There will be references to Male on Male sex. If this is a problem for you please don't read it.

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Beta'd by the most wonderful** Mima Mia and Reindeer Games 19**. Many, many thanks for your assistance.

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As always comments and reviews are greatly appreciated.

**If you aren't a comment or review kind of person then Favs and Follows would be wonderful.**

They all help the story placement on the search engine. Many thanks to my faithful commenters and of course to all that have Fav'd and Followed in the past.

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I don't own the Avengers or Thor, they are the property of Marvel and Disney, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.


	2. Chapter 2-How is this my life

**Chapter Summary** - After housing the God of Mischief in his tower for several years Loki is recalled to Asgard. This leaves Tony minus a lab partner, wingman and buddy to snark with on Movie Night. Pepper has moved to the west coast and married, SHIELD is doing some crazy shit. With the exception of occasionally seeing Bruce, Tony doesn't have much interaction with his former team mates. He wonders how it is possible to feel so lonely in a city so full of people. He's and engineer, he decides to fix this. - Sequel to Queens Grace. You do not have to have read Queens Grace to follow this.

Starting premise - Loki has was recalled to Asgard after several years of being a prisoner in Stark Tower as a favor to Queen Frigga when Asgard proved to be too dangerous to his now mortal and memory altered self. After his recall, Loki and Tony started a long distance friends with benefits relationship that takes place on Loki's yearly reward visit to Midgard.

**TRIGGER WARNINGS IN END NOTES PLEASE READ IF YOU MIGHT HAVE A PROMBLEM WITH CERTAIN SUBJECT MATTER. **

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**Summary -** Loki reflects on his present situation and what Starks arrival might mean to him.

**Comment Challenge - **If we can get ten comments, I'll stop what I am doing and do a next day post of Chapter 3.

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Please visit me on tumblr RenneMichaels you'll see my Snowflake Avatar

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**Chapter 2 - The Deal Part 1 - How is this my life?**

How was this his life? Loki wondered miserably.

The god's late afternoon headache was already throbbing against his temples, despite not being due for several more hours. Sitting on the bottom step leading up to the throne, Loki's eyes drifted several steps up to the first tier to where he used to stand with Thor and his mother in better days. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say _'in former days'_, since even then very few of his days could actually be classed as better exactly. Many had been boring, some had been happy, but quite a few had been teeth grindingly aggravating for one reason or another. Resolutely Loki turned his gaze away.

It had taken twenty minutes of solidly ignoring his mother and Thor before they had left Loki to his thoughts and stepped away to argue amongst themselves. Not that he could imagine what Thor was arguing about. Although if he had to guess, Loki imagined that Thor was incensed over the news that Loki and Stark's former relationship was quite a bit more than friendship. With extra emphasis on former as far as Loki was concerned. Not that Loki particularly worried about what Thor thought; he was more concerned with trying to figure out what Stark's end game was in this insane idea of his. What Loki found all the more worrying, was the fact that Odin would even tolerate the suggestion enough to even begin negotiations. As a rule in general Odin did not like surprises, and in particular he did not much care for the mortals, for all he claimed in the past to be their realm's protector.

Mortal equations aside, alliances such as the one Stark had proposed had taken place on rare occasions, but normally it was not done for anything less than ending a war or major blood feud. It was a solution only considered when the conflict had so decimated the families that absolutely no eligible ranking females were available. In those instances the houses were merged and they paid heavily for an equally ranked shared consort who bore and raised children from each house. The trio raised children eventually becoming the heirs of the opposing house and the heir's children marrying to bring the original bloodline back to the house. Which definitely insure that there would be no more conflicts between the houses if they wanted their bloodline to survive.

The other almost unheard of occurrence was when such an alliance was imposed by a higher power as a punishment because an inter-house conflict had been so bitter that it was decided that the heads of the warring houses were the ones directly responsible for ending it. The major punishment part being that each party was required to produce an heir for the other house of their own body. This normally required the aid of some very powerful Mages. Needless to say very little was heard from either of the warring factions for many centuries after that. The threat of having such an alliance imposed had surely been responsible for ending many a feud before it escalated too far.

Yet Stark was proposing such a joining voluntarily, obviously not knowing how unusual that was in Asgard. Or, Loki thought wryly, more likely not caring.

"Loki darling, why don't you and Thor join me in my garden?" Frigga suggested, heading back over to where he sat, Thor trailing behind her with a chastised expression.

"No thank you mother."

Loki stood, smoothing his plain tunic and adjusting the worn green belt wrapped around his waist. The belt had been dropped and left behind when the clothes of his former life were removed by court order and was the only thing he had to wear that wasn't the faded black or dark grey that non-livery servants wore.

"I think it best if I return to the work site Mother. I wasn't planning on being absent this afternoon so I don't have extra assignment set up to keep the crews busy when they've finished their initial work orders." Besides which, Loki decided that he would be better off working on the BiFrost. If nothing else it would distract him from useless speculation of what might be happening in the All Father's inner chamber. "Besides, I have a full charge on the arc reactor rig and there is no sense wasting it."

Gathering his guards at the door, Loki bade his mother and brother goodbye, deftly ignoring suggestions that they would see him later that evening in the main dining hall. Because if he had any say so in the matter, they wouldn't.

While Loki was constantly refining the runes he used and the power attachment configurations, the crystal still grew too slowly to suit him. Granted it grew many times faster than when he first started, but still much slower than he was happy with. Now if he could have used the Tesseract or the Casket of Ancient Winters as his power source then maybe he would have been able to make some real progress. After all any power source powerful enough to allow Heimdall to mimic the powers of the BiFrost or create an ice age for an entire planet had to be extremely powerful.

However judging by the fit Odin threw the one time he mentioned his research into using either artifact to speed up the repair, neither of them was ever going to be a viable or rather 'allowable' alternative. The only reason he was able to use the arc reactor rig was that he had done so without mentioning it beforehand. Plus since the rig didn't really belong to Loki, but rather one of Frigga's servitors, Odin couldn't declare it forfeit to the crown, much though the elder god wished he could.

And if absolutely none of the computers or programs that Loki used to re-design and manage the BiFrost project were compatible or even readable by the Æsir systems… Well that was just a happy coincidence as far as Loki was concerned and quite frankly suited him to the nth degree. Odin couldn't confiscate Loki's Midgardian computational setup since it also was listed as belonging to Queen Frigga's Midgardian servitor, Stark. Granted using the more primitive earth computers took longer, since he had to manually transfer all the information he needed from the Æsir system into his frankly outdated Midgardian tech, but Loki considered it well worth the extra time. The Earther programs Loki had to use were a more cumbersome than their Æsir equivalents would have been, but in the end it was all well worth it to keep his solutions private.

Still, as Loki sat there at his portable desk, going over task lists, design approvals and his workflow tables, he couldn't help but think that even without the Tesseract, how much easier this would be to do if he could bring his damn laptop to the job site. But apparently that would be one change too many and beside Odin most likely didn't want the word to get out that none of the design work was being done and saved to Asgard's giant data banks. No matter how much it upset Odin.

After taking a moment to bask in the satisfaction of that thought, Loki took a deep settling breath before he returned to the job at hand. Much to the chagrin of the dwarfs and the Æsir construction crews, he was not allowing them to build in a linear fashion. The old way of 'When this is done, we start that' was inefficient. During what would have otherwise been down time between building supports, rather than wasting time standing around admiring their work and boasting about it, Loki had them instead building sections of the transfer room. By the time the bridge was long enough to build that final support the god wanted the transfer room complete, its sections ready for final assemble. Yes there would have to be some last minute adjustments to the structure, but it would still be quicker to prebuild it.

_Even if he could have used a bit of downtime himself. _

Listening intently as he made notes on his drawings and lists, Loki became aware of a slight burr in the tone of the growing crystal. Beckoning for the young Æsir construction runner who was waiting by one of his guards, he handed off a list of approved tasks. Rising slowly, so as not to exacerbate his headache, Loki went and painstakingly tuned the crystal array until the tones were again pure.

The overall harmony of the bridge was something the other mages had inexplicably not factored into their construction considerations at all. For reason Loki was frankly at a loss to explain. Before they were even allowed passed the first pair of supports, Asgard's horses had to be trained to ignore the glissando their hoofs caused when they ran upon it. The damn bridge sang such eerily pure notes when walked upon that it had frequently caused the hair on the back of Loki's neck to stand out. He knows he couldn't have been the only one who experienced that phenomenon. Loki had always privately felt that a large part of the exhilaration experienced from traveling via the Bi-Frost was partially due to the almost over-whelming sensation of traversing the bridge's crystal structure itself. It was an exciting sensation… In every sense of the word. Loki remembered from his youngling days when he, Thor and the other pages had made it a habit to take a willing maiden with then when running out to Heimdall to pick up or deliver a parcel. Deliveries of course being much more fun since you were free to take advantage of the resulting sensations as soon as you returned from the bridge.

Shaking his head ruefully at the memory, Loki immediately regretted it. Pain blossomed behind his eyes at the abrupt movement. Trying to ignore the hot painful melting feeling inside his skull, Loki wrenched his thoughts back to the clear, almost soothing notes the crystal made as it grew. His first real breakthrough on understanding the BiFrost had been the realization that if the crystal was not in absolute harmony it would grow so slowly it took several weeks for the growth to be measurable. Not that Loki was happy with the inch or so of length per day he managed to generate now. But it had been so much worse when he started. When he first started the rate of growth was so slow he'd calculated that it could possibly take hundreds of years to finish. He frankly thanked the Norns that he had the ability to hear discern the off pitch notes, because without it he would have had to depend on someone else's perceptions and diligence and might never have been able to get the Muspelheim be-damned thing re-built.

Perhaps this was the one good thing about his puzzling attack on New York. If it hadn't been for the carrying case they had built to move the Tesseract it would have taken much longer to develop a mechanism to recharge the mini arc reactor he was using to power the crystal's growth. Of course Stark and his lab's capabilities had been a big help there. Without Stark, he wouldn't have even have had access to the Tesseract case's plans, let alone the means to adapt it as a charging station.

The corners of Loki's mouth turned down. He was not going to think about Midgard right now. His daily headache was already in full bloom, he didn't need chest pains to go with it. And he would not start to hyperventilate out here at the work site again. Once was enough.

Loki despised this mortal body he was forced to wear. His strength was gone, his body's ability to heal itself was gone and he now had fight or flight responses that were ridiculously overblown and almost impossible to keep in check. He really didn't know how mortals coped with it all, the tiredness, the pain, and the Norms be damned over stimulation and mood swings that just made him want to scream. The only thing that stopped him from daily panic attacks was his mother's assurance that he wasn't getting older and wouldn't be aged and feeble by the time his sentence was up. It would have saved him no end of stress if he had known that fact while on Midgard.

While Frigga had begged for him to be allowed to keep his longevity, Loki now knew that no matter how heinous his unknown crime was, the council would have kept him alive at least until the BiFrost repair was complete. Although he had no doubt that their preferred method would have been a servitor mark such as Stark's. A mark he would have had to hope would be annually recharged, doubtless with several occasions of having to bargain future services to the Asgard Throne in exchange for optimal renewal.

Loki rubbed his forehead wearily. He might not have to worry about his life depending on a servitors mark, but in the meantime he had these damn headaches to deal with. Since he didn't want Asgard, by way of the healer's hall, to know how truly helpless and mortal he was, he couldn't get as much pain reliever as he would have liked, so he limited himself to one draught of medicine a day. He found if he took it right before bed, the sheer relief of having the pounding finally go away would normally make him drop off to sleep immediately.

Of course that might not work this evening. Stark was in Asgard. How was that even possible? Stark was in Asgard bidding on him. The very idea made his chest pound painfully.

_As if daily headaches weren't bad enough_, he thought sourly.

Stark was closeted with the All Father. Bidding on him. Bidding for Loki against other houses. Bidding like he was some sort of prize winning horse that would make a welcome addition to his stable.

He had already endured several years of whispering by the court over Odin trying to fob him off to several noble families who were willing to pay his maintenance while pledging to keep him in check. That however would be nothing compared to the uproar in the court if they ever found out the All Father was even entertaining the idea of joining him another male and a Midgardian one at that.

Placing three fingers on either side of his face, Loki applied steady pressure to his temples for about ten seconds; he then spent several minutes rubbing in a circular motion in an attempt to reduce the throbbing of his headache. Even though he knew the pain relief was only temporary and would return the minute he stopped massaging, it was a welcome respite none the less.

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Loki had been so busy reviewing tomorrow's schedule that he wasn't even aware that Tony was there until the man lightly touched his arm.

Loki had ordered Thor to come and get him immediately when Tony and Odin were finished, but it was several hours later when Tony by himself showed up, Loki made a mental note to add Thor's disregard of his request to the list of things he was going to punish his elder brother for when the opportunity presented itself.

"Honestly Stark," Loki spat at him, startled that the guards had allowed him so close and annoyed he hadn't even noticed his approach. He brushed Tony's hand off his arm and hissed in a low undertone while angrily brushing back an errant stand of hair behind his ear, "This whole situation is ludicrous. I'm already the laughing stock of Asgard without your insane offer."

Tony's lips thinned as his eyes followed the godling's movement, noting the slight tremor of Loki's hand before it pressed hard against the desk top, the god's own green flashed angrily daring him to mention it.

"This idea has nothing to do with a full of himself rap star," Tony told him. Shrugging when the cultural reference went right over the god's head Tony continued, "Ya know what. Just ignore that last one, stupid joke."

"No this whole idea is a stupid joke!"

"No, it's not. You're worried about being the laughing stock of a planet that you don't even want to stay on, a planet that keeps you a shackled prisoner." Tony shrugged and mugged a theatrically eye roll. "Okay maybe not real physical shackles right at this minute, but tomorrow they could be. A place that has shackled your powers and your freedom of movement probably enough to make you desperate to get them back anyway you can."

Loki looked down, refusing to look at Stark. Instead he studied the papers in front of him. He was mad for several reasons, the main one of course being the fact that Tony had totally embarrassed him and betrayed his trust during his last visit. Even if no one but themselves knew about it, he still writhed in shame whenever he thought about how much he had wanted to be with Stark and how devastated he was when the mortal had simply forgotten about him. Overlooked and forgotten would have been bad enough if Stark had been Asgardian, but as a mortal, one that he had given his trust to? Completely humiliating.

And this was on top of all the other real problems Loki has to contend with. The Bi-Frost crystal was finally growing at a visually measurable rate, however there is no guarantee that it was the exact structural and molecular match of the previous crystal. Some of Midgard's tech, would that he could use it, might help if he could access it, but he can't. Asgard's tech was all developed after the bridge so asking to use it to double check his work would most likely be viewed with deep distrust as to what he was really planning on doing with such technology. So all Loki could do without raising more suspicion than would be healthy was to hope for the best and spend sleepless nights worrying about material failure or the crystal resonating at the wrong pitch.

_Can you tune a bridge? _

Bridge tuning, yet another problem he has to deal with. Loki isn't sure if it's possible and spending those sleepless nights searching the library and archives have not even hinted at an answer.

The god also hated having the huge gap in his memory and being punished for something he couldn't even remember. It didn't help of course that he only had the indirect hints that he was being punished for crimes so heinous that he wasn't safe from reprisal on either realm. It was intolerable that he was alternately laughed at due to his reduced state and had to be protected from others for the same reason. And Stark's actions were not helping in the least.

In years past he would have just retreated to the library or gone on a long journey. But now he was on display every day at the bridge site. The guards, his and Odin's had often had to fend off hecklers and several times those who wanted to bandy something much sharper than words. And now everyone watching him today was going to wonder just who Stark was and why he was even talking to Loki.

And why was Stark here plaguing him with his stupid idea? Didn't he realise that Loki had enough to worry about? Stark who couldn't even with Jarvis' help, remember that Loki was scheduled to arrive for a once a year, twelve hour visit. The one highlight of his entire year and the man couldn't care to remember or even be bothered to send him a message telling him he was no longer interested.

Bile rose in his throat.

Stark was here with his senseless idea that was only possible because Thor had survived to adulthood making him superfluous. After all he was a now useless second prince, a seiðr wielding egri. And if this agreement… no… if this sale came to pass, there would be no question that the Midgardian would not be the one shape shifting to play the female.

Privately, Loki knew he couldn't even claim not to be occasionally attracted to men in general, and Stark in particular. While he was not the only Æsir who had occasionally indulged in activities that Asgard did not generally talk about, this particular behavior certainly wasn't admitted to by anyone who wanted to retain their social standing. Especially not those who already were under close scrutiny for being a seiðmenn. Something that Stark with his Midgardian '_do your own thing_' mindset simply did not understand and just the thought of trying to explain it to the irritating mortal made him wince.

Sick from the near constant throbbing in his temples, Loki stared unseeingly down at the papers in front of him. He hadn't even made it back from the throne room when he'd had to detour to retch until there was nothing left in his stomach but sour bile. That was never a good sign; it usually meant that by nightfall he would experience black spots in front of his eyes that sometimes got so bad that he couldn't see where he was going.

"Look, I know how desperate you are to get your powers back." Tony said not daring to touch him again but using an urgent tone of voice to reclaim his fractured attention. "You're so desperate that I'm afraid that one of these days you are going to make a deal that ends up killing you inside."

Loki would have liked to have lashed out and smacked the feigned look of concern right off of Stark's face, but instead his brows lowered even more and he contented himself with shooting the irritating little mortal the most baleful look he could currently manage.

At one point in time, such a look from Loki would have silenced beings far more powerful than Stark. Now however in his reduced state it barely caused the wretched man to pause his babbling for a moment.

Of course Stark never had been known to take a hint any more subtle than a plasma blast.

"I can't do anything about the fact that even once you are finished with this you will still be on probation, bound to whatever tasks Odin assigns you. The One-eyed bastard isn't budging on that one, but I sure as hell can help you get the blocks on your magic removed so things will be a bit easier and safer for you," Tony said earnestly.

"Oh I'm sure," Loki jeered allowing his lip to curl in scorn finally turning in his chair to look at Stark full on. "Because the All Father is just going to give me back my powers just because you ask him to." Sarcasm dripped from every syllable.

Tony snorted, making a face to clearly show how little he thought of Odin's forbearance and generosity. "Hell no, he's going to do it because I am going to pay him for the use of them."

"Like Odin needs your pitiful amount of wealth," Loki scoffed ignoring the blossom of pain in his chest and faint sourness in his mouth while he maintained a sceptical facade. "Please Stark, isn't that's a bit egotistical even for you?"

Stark's expression had a note of worry for some reason. Not exactly a look Loki was used to seeing on him.

"Well, not entirely," Stark leaned in a bit, peering closely at Loki. "Although I do think it gets on his last nerve that your mom is keeping you funded, and making Asgard pay for your guards. Odin is going to give your magic back to you because I told him I wanted you to have them for the benefit of Stark International and in return I am not only going to pay all your expenses, I am also going to restore your estates, and am pledging a fucking enormously large, and this is even by my standards, surety that I won't let you disappear while your sentence is incomplete."

"What?" Loki, turned wide eyes to Stark, stunned. Not so much that Odin would sell his services like a… But that he would demand or even allow his estates to be restored, but then a thought struck him. Of course he would allow it. After all restored estates can be subject to future confiscation, giving Odin. Of course, he thought cynically, Odin couldn't remove them again in the future if unless they were returned to him in the first place.

"Well I think barefoot and pregnant is what Odin really wants," Stark continued blithely, "but he is just going to have to settle for close at hand, busy and not invading anything."

Loki grimaced, his eyelids fluttering shut as a sharp stabbing pains raced across his forehead. While he was certain the All Father hadn't said it quite the way Stark did, past experience made him painfully aware how imaginative and vindictive his father the king could be when upset.

A hissing noise like that of an angry tea kettle prompted him to lift one eye to half-mast. The unwelcome sight of Stark's face contorted in anger did not tempt him to open it any further

After a long moment studying his face Stark spat, "Christ Almighty Loki, how fucking high is your blood pressure right now? Are you still having panic attacks? What are they giving you for them?" Stark wasn't shouting, but his voice did pick up enough volume and punch that Loki couldn't help wincing a little. Or notice the uneasy shifting of one of his guards. "Fuck it all Bambi you look like hell, you're nothing but skin and bones again, how do you put up with all this shit?"

"Because I have no choice Stark, it's this or die." Loki hissed, rubbing his temples refusing to look at the mortal even though he could see shoes never made in Asgard stop in front of him and feel the touch of fingers lightly brushing upon his arm. "Until I've finished my sentence or am ready to die, this is my life. Is there something about this you don't understand, I wouldn't think it would be that difficult for someone who is supposed to be a genius."

Callused fingers gripped Loki's chin hard, lifting his face until he couldn't help but lock onto the cognac brown eyes that appeared to be trying hard to see into his mind.

"You know what I understand? Most mortal bodies handle normal stress loads just fine. But Bambi, this place is another level of crap entirely." Stark's other hand brushed a few strands of hair behind his ear, trailing along after it until his palm was resting on Loki's shoulder. "Shit buddy. You're dealing with memory loss, a major public works construction project that would take a fricken team of structural engineers to schedule and oversee, re-discovering a scientific process that no one has used in a millennia or more and have a prison sentence hanging over your head in a place that already doesn't like you because you aren't a sword wielding maniac. And you have to be guarded twenty-four seven to prevent said maniacs from beating the crap out of you. That is a fuckload of stress babe, Hell it's a wonder you haven't already had a stroke."

Loki's eyes flew open.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

**TRIGGER WARNINGS** – This fic will contain or mention - Arranged marriage, Forced compatibility. Most of it will not be graphic, but some areas could get trigger-y for people sensitive on that topic. Please do not read if you will have issues with any of these items.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

Beta'd by the most wonderful** Mima Mia. **Many, many thanks for your assistance.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

As always comments and reviews are greatly appreciated.

**If you aren't a comment or review kind of person then Favs and Follows would be wonderful.**

They all help the story placement on the search engine. Many thanks to my faithful commenters and of course to all that have Fav'd and Followed in the past.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

I don't own the Avengers or Thor, they are the property of Marvel and Disney, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.


	3. Chapter 3 - Eir is not amused

**Chapter Summary** - After housing the God of Mischief in his tower for several years Loki is recalled to Asgard. This leaves Tony minus a lab partner, wingman and buddy to snark with on Movie Night. Pepper has moved to the west coast and married, SHIELD is doing some crazy shit. With the exception of occasionally seeing Bruce, Tony doesn't have much interaction with his former team mates. He wonders how it is possible to feel so lonely in a city so full of people. He's and engineer, he decides to fix this. - Sequel to Queens Grace. You do not have to have read Queens Grace to follow this.

Starting premise - Loki has was recalled to Asgard after several years of being a prisoner in Stark Tower as a favor to Queen Frigga when Asgard proved to be too dangerous to his now mortal and memory altered self. After his recall, Loki and Tony started a long distance friends with benefits relationship that takes place on Loki's yearly reward visit to Midgard.

**TRIGGER WARNINGS IN END NOTES PLEASE READ IF YOU MIGHT HAVE A PROMBLEM WITH CERTAIN SUBJECT MATTER. **

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**Summary -** Illicit drug use in Asgard? Eir and Tony are shocked. Shocked I say.

**Comment Challenge - **If we can get ten comments, I'll stop what I am doing and do a next day post of Chapter 4.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

Please visit me on tumblr RenneMichaels you'll see my Snowflake Avatar

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

**Chapter 3 – Eir is not amused.**

_Oh real smart move there Stark._

Tony wanted to smack himself. At the mention of a stroke, a mortal ailment he knew Loki was aware of, the god's already angry pale face drained even more, his eyes going all wild and shock-y looking.

Mentally kicking himself, Tony let go of Loki's chin shifting his grip to the god's forearms as he tried to sooth the god. "No, it's okay. We can fix this," he said, trying to sound both reassuring and upbeat. He had totally forgotten the god's irrational, anxiety towards any kind of illness or injury to his now weak mortal body.

"Don't worry, it will be fine; mortals know how to take care of this stuff." Tony said sliding fingers further down the stricken god's arms until they twined with Loki's. Squeezing the godling's hands he tried to talk Flawed Design back to the land of normal people. At least so far as normal referred to a reduced god getting ready to Z-out on him while he stood on an alien planet without enough wi-fi capacity for Jarvis to advise him.

_Jarvis or no Jarvis, Tony was not panicking._

He did however wonder fleetingly what the fuck was taking Pepper so long. Surely she was not still closeted with his royal windbag's clerks dotting i's and crossing t's?

Mentally shaking himself, Tony decided to try a '_matter of fact'_ approach.

Keeping his tone conversational Tony gave Loki's hand a little squeeze, "Look, I'm going to insist that Odin send you down for Bruce to look at and my doctor too. Hell yeah, we'll do a consult."

Loki took a long, shuddering breath. Okay, breathing is good. Tony smiled down at him, but his relief was short lived as the next breath was equally long and shuddering.

_Okay. Not good._

"You, Larry Daley." Tony called out to one of the waiting guards. "Come here. You're one of Frigga's guards right?" He figured this was a pretty safe bet, since this guys outfit was quite a bit different that most of the other guards he had seen. While all of the guards looked like they could easily rip out Tony's spine and use it as a musical instrument, these guys had more practical looking outfits than the guards he had seen in the palace.

Not plainer by any means, their stuff was equally detailed and finely done, but perhaps less symbolic looking. Which Tony guessed made sense; they weren't here to proclaim King Odin's might or the glory of Asgard or anything. They were here for one reason only and that was to protect Frigga's little mischief maker.

The guard hurried over, his hand clenched around the hilt of his sword. His look both haughty and antagonistic.

"I report directly to the Queen, my name is Aldfrig." He introduced himself with a hostile voice, narrowing his eyes and giving Tony another hard look as if to say that regardless of what type of 'Letter of Introduction', hastily scrawled by Prince Thor, Tony was currently on thin ice as far as he was concerned. "Who exactly are you and why are you bothering Prince Loki?"

Loki grimaced waving a hand weakly, trying to catch his breath enough to speak.

"Hush, you." Tony admonished him gently. "I got this; you just work on the whole breathing thing."

Tony turned back to the guard, pasting a superior sneer on his face. Not unlike the look he used when testifying before a hostile congress.

"Who am I? I'm Tony Stark, Iron Man, hero of Midgard, problem solver for Queen Frigga, close friend of Thor and Loki. If you haven't been living under a rock you may have heard of me." At the way the guards eyes shifted uneasily, Tony was pretty sure he had just scored a home run recognition wise, so he decided to push his luck while things were still going his way.

"I'm also the guy who's going to be dictating the quality of your living quarters for the next several years."

That statement got him a flinch.

"But right now I am the guy who wants you to help him shut this place down for the day, because the Prince has been summoned by his mother. You think you can do that? Or do I need to talk to your buddy over there?"

Apparently he didn't because after a short whispered conversation with Aldfrig, the second guard went to inform the construction supervisor that Prince Loki was leaving for the day and his work area needed to be stored for the evening. Aldfrig then helped Tony unhook the arc reactor from the crystal arrays and repack everything into the suitcase. Loki's curled lip and angry glare promised dire retribution for all of them…

As soon as the Trickster could properly catch his breath.

"Exactly what do you think you're doing Stark." Loki snapped at him, trying unsuccessfully to keep his upper arm out of Tony's grip.

"Getting you back to the palace in time to get ready for dinner like your mom told me to, after all we can't disobey the queen."

"I assure you that I have quite frequently disobeyed the queen." Loki growled in a breathy undertone.

"Yeah, and you're not five anymore, so maybe it's time you stopped." Tony retorted, steering him after the point guard, taking advantage of Loki's lack of concentration on anything other than arguing with him to get the god moving in the right direction.

_He hoped. _

Fuck, he was just following the guy with the sword, who presumably knew where they were going.

OoooO

Thor had met them on their way back and seeing Loki's pallor, he quickly relieved Tony of the suitcase, saying that he would take it to be recharged by Heimdall and then see it safety stored. Loki surfaced momentarily from his own world to scowl when the Thunderer solicitously asked Tony if the younger god was doing okay.

"I'm right here Thor," The younger god huffed, partially in aggravation, partially due to shortness of breath.

"Indeed. Should I summon a transport? You don't look well."

"I'm not an invalid Thor," Loki growled teeth snapping shut on all the other things he would have liked to say.

"Of course you aren't brother." Thor said in far too loud and hardy to be the least bit soothing. Even if, judging by his expression that was the tone the large blonde had been trying for.

Shouldering past his brother, fists clenched in irritation, Loki only made it a few more steps before his point guard held out a hand to stop them. Obviously aware of the drill, Loki stood rigidly, almost vibrating with irritation. Tony looked back to see that they were waiting for that Al-guy, who was listening intently as Thor whispered to him.

Whispered 'a la Thor' that is, which meant that the rest of the party, Tony included, could hear every word as Thor briefly instructed Frigga's head guard, with what basically amounted to the fact that Tony was authorized by Frigga to be with Loki. That Frigga would soon have a meeting with them to explain everything and until then, they were to look upon Tony's orders with the same level of compliance they did Thor's.

Glancing around, Tony could see that none of the guards looked thrilled at the news that they would be taking orders from a lowly Midgardian. However, he had to hand it to the guys; they were very professional about Tony's change in status. And quickly became that much more helpful in getting their little party to Loki's room using the quickest route. An act that seemingly required no consultation between them and left Tony wondering furiously how often this sort of speed was required.

Ostensibly they were returning to Loki's chambers so Frigga's boy could get cleaned and dressed for his audience with the Queen Mum. But really, Tony just thought he needed to set the god down somewhere quiet so he could either calm down or lose his shit in private.

Rolling a cautious eye toward the hyperventilating, yet still seething Mischief Maker, Tony figured he was in for one hell of a scream fest once the Rudolf got his breathing back under control.

Loki had only uttered a bitter word or two of protest when Tony took him by the forearm and began towing him back to the palace. The younger god didn't even offer any direction or guidance once they reached the palace proper. He just walked slowly, occasionally stopping, breathing deeply, looking for all the world like he was having trouble getting enough air to exist, let alone walk.

Fortunately they had already entered the palace proper when Loki detoured a few steps and dropped with much less than his usual grace on a low wall. "Wait…" he wheezed, wrapping his arms across his belly and dropping his head down towards his knees, "A moment."

"Sure thing Rudolf. You keep Al here company a minute, he looks winded."

Cloudy, pain filled green eyes rolled up to look at him for the briefest of moments.

Furious inside, but keeping his expression blank, Tony gestured for Aldfrig to go stand by Loki and walked part way back down the hallway with the other guard who had followed at his motioned request. "Can you find a servant and send them to get a doctor or something?" Tony asked, keeping his voice low and getting a blank look in return. "Nurse practitioner? Umm, can't remember the Asgard word… A little help here would be appreciated. Someone who takes care of people when they are sick or injured?"

"Healer?" The guard guessed.

"Yeah. Healer. I want a healer. Can you get one to make a house call without the whole palace knowing about it?" Tony frowned. "Or a chamber call I guess. Do they even do those here?"

"Of course my lord."

"Wonderful, they need to tell the healer that Tony Stark, Queen Frigga's guest has a slight problem and needs to see them immediately. Quicker than that even. Just don't mention the Prince at all. Okay?"

"Of course my lord, it will only take a moment," said the guard, slipping back the way they had come and quickly turning a corner.

Tony went back over and sat on the wall beside Loki and twined their fingers together, his thumb rubbing soft circles. No snide remarks or cutting looks were tossed his way even when Tony dared to brushed damp hair away from Loki's sweating, but oddly cool forehead. Tony attributed that small bit of grace to how bad his god must be feeling.

By the time the second guard had returned, Loki indicated that he was ready to continue and Tony had formulated a million questions that it was killing him not to ask.

OoooO

Loki's chambers didn't look anything like Tony had thought they would. The initial chamber they swept through was fairly large but as Thor had mentioned, it had been pretty much stripped bare. It still had some of the trappings of the grand room it had once been, such as the long rich looking cream colored drapes with gold and green trim, a fireplace that would put any other palace fireplace Tony had ever seen to shame and of course Viking Celtic looking stone work fricken everywhere. However what it did not have in it, was anything else besides a fuck-ton of empty built-in book shelves and one plain looking chair sitting just inside the door. Not a rug, not a table, nothing.

The bedroom was more what he was expecting, green canopy bed and books everywhere. A small tapestry-looking green and gold couch, side tables and matching chairs made up a small grouping that was angled to either allow a view of the balcony or the fireplace. Both of which, the fire place and balcony, were enormous and done with more of that finely wrought stonework he'd been seeing since he got here. Tony guided Loki over to the couch, pressing him down onto it.

Why Tony had imagined that Loki would have an Earthgardian-like apartment with an attached kitchen he had no clue. But it was okay since Al was pretty quickly tapping on some ear bling he was wearing and telling a fourth guard from who knows where, to get Tony a pitcher of security certified safe ice water for Loki to drink while they waited for the healer.

"Everyone out," Loki had panted, accepting the glass of water, but waving a slightly shaking hand dismissively.

Tony raised a brow as two of the guards finished their security check and nodding at Aldfrig passed through the main chamber and out into the hallway.

"I will bring the healer as soon as they arrive my lord," Aldfrig told Tony leaving the bedroom and pulling the big double doors shut behind him.

In truth Tony was kind of sorry to see him go, figuring the screaming was going to start soon. Turning back towards the seating group, he found Loki laying back on the couch holding a trembling tumbler of water to his temple.

Walking over to the couch Tony crouched down in front of the gracelessly slumping former god.

Green eyes flicked open a moment before a low cold voice told him, "I'm going to kill you for this."

"That is not news Rudolf," Tony told him wryly, wincing in sympathy when Loki's face scrunched up in pain. Spying a napkin on the water jug tray, Tony went over and stuffed it into the other tumbler and poured ice water on it. Squeezing the excess off onto the tray so it wouldn't drip so much, Tony folded the napkin into a rectangular pad. Walking around the couch, he held the cool damp cloth to Loki's forehead while his other hand gently stroked silky black hair out of the way.

OoooO

As Queen Frigga's guest, Tony didn't get just any Doc.

Hell no.

He got the Asgardian Dean of Medicine, who turned out to be Eir, that scary old broad who had treated Loki all those years ago when he first showed up injured in Stark Tower and later when he'd been so depressed. She had no sooner arrived and made a quick check of her patient before she and Tony had gone a quick few rounds. He was majorly pissed when he found out that no one had been treating or even checking his god for stress related illnesses since he had returned to Asgard. So far as Eir knew, Loki had only been having the occasional headache.

Fucking hand waving posers all of them.

"It's not like you didn't fucking know that he was prone to this shit." Tony hissed, following her into the attached bath.

Which meant the good Doctor was already more than a little pissed when she when reached into a linen closet to get some hand towels for a better cold compress and she noticed a huge jug of a pain elixir that Loki had 'somehow' acquired as a headache remedy. Apparently it was the same medicine that they had given him a small flask of when he first returned. And so far as the Healer Hall knew, Loki had only asked for another flask on two or three occasions after that.

A further hasty search of the cupboard uncovered a small box with broken bits of two similar jugs on a bottom shelf, tucked in the back and covered with an bath mat of some sort. How Loki had managed to liberated three of the two gallon plus jugs from the central storage room, she had no idea.

Nor was he telling.

"Loki," Eir hissed, pushing past Tony carrying the almost empty jug out to the main chamber, "How did you get this? How long have you been having headaches?" She peered at the date on the label noting that it was a recent batch and then glared at him appalled. "How many of these jugs have you taken? How often are you taking this?"

Eir was seriously not happy.

Sitting beside Loki on the couch, Tony felt him stiffen defensively, but the god looked away still sucking in air in deep artificially slow breaths, refusing to answer.

Tony sighed.

Snaking his arm behind him, Tony took in the dark shadows under Loki's eyes that stood out in harsh contrast against his too pale skin. Loki, if anything, looked even more stressed than he had on the trip back to his room and way worse than he did when while yelling at Odin in the throne room.

The whole arm thing most likely would have jump started their fight, if it hadn't been for Eir pelting the god with questions while poking, prodding and waving fairy wands and crystals all over the place. Every time Loki even looked like he was going to open his mouth to start yelling the old broad stuck an instrument or a pill in it.

Loki's face, or at least what Tony could see of it, was stiff and closed and his lips pressed tight. Tony leaned in and whispered in what he hoped was a low enough voice to be private, "Look, buddy. Before this is finished, I'm going to have them explain what happened and maybe even take that fucking rune off you." Loki didn't move, but he did show evidence of some interest, looking at Tony from the corner of his eye rather than staring out the window.

"That's part of my demand; I don't want them to leave you in total ignorance anymore, I think the whole 'not knowing thing' is at least part of your stress problems," The inventor continued even lower, his mouth right at Loki's ear.

On the other side of Loki, Eir who was checking the reading on some weird crystal egg thing, snorted, so obviously whispering was _'not'_ something you could do around Asgardians. Tony shrugged mentally, deciding to just roll with it.

"See, scary lady doc agrees with me."

Loki stared at the floor a moment and then looked back towards the window, his lips compressed into an impossibly thin line indicating that he was absolutely not taking notice of Tony or anything words he might say.

Patting the god's knee, Tony stood. "Be right back." He headed into the bathroom motioning discretely for Eir to follow him.

OoooO

It seemed Eir also had some communication ear bling, which may explain how she showed up so fast.

Leaving her to contact one of her assistants about his request and he suspected continue her search of the bathing room to see if there was other evidence of what the Mischief Maker had been up to, Tony went back into the bedroom and sat beside Loki, he reached over and curled his fingers around the lightly clenched fist Loki had lying on his knee.

Glancing sideways, he could see that whatever Eir had given Loki to calm him down seemed to have taken at least the edge off. His features were still slightly pinched with pain from his acknowledged headache, but his pulse was no longer rapidly fluttering under his jaw and he was not hauling in such deep breaths in an effort to get enough oxygen to hide the fact that what his body really wanted to do was keep hyperventilating.

"I fucked up," Tony stated quietly, not looking directly at Loki, but rather using his peripheral vision to watch the god's frown deepen. "I was stupid and forgetful and it hurt you and I have regretted it every single day of the last year. But maybe in a way it was good… Loki stiffened beside him, hand twitching as if he was going to pull it away. Tony insinuated two fingers into Loki's curled up hand, squeezing it slightly. "I said maybe, because it made me realize how important you were to me and how badly I missed having you as a friend and lover."

"It obviously wasn't that important to you Stark," Loki pained and soured expression was completely aligned with his scornful, defensive tone. "But then I never thought that it really was."

Even after all his years of experience, it was still hard for Tony to acknowledge that deep down, he was a shit. But in this case not only did he have to face that fact; he needed to let his god 'see' that he was facing it if he wanted any kind of a chance with him. Unlike Pepper, Loki did not automatically give him the benefit of the doubt, nor did he cut him any slack for old times' sake.

"Loki, except for Pepper, you should know better than most how much I take the wrong things for granted. It seems the more I care about people, the worse I treat them sometimes. And if I honestly never got it across to you how much I care about you and how much I value your friendship and affection, then I guess I suck at this emotional crap worse than I thought I did." He lightly rocked their joined hands while Loki worried his bottom lip, still not directly looking at Tony. Which the engineer guessed was fair. I wasn't like he was looking at Loki directly either, the both of them apparently relying on sidelong glances. Tony snorted, "Which I honestly didn't think was possible."

"I want to make it right. This last year of not knowing how you were doing drove me crazy." An unconvinced Loki turned towards him, but before he could say anything there was a knock on the double doors leading into the living room.

Loki sighed. "Enter."

"Prince Loki, there is a healer here to see Lady Eir, she is requesting admission."

"Only into the outer chambers," Loki instructed him.

Having a good idea of why the healer assistant was out there, Tony slid off the couch, just as Eir poked her head out of the bathroom, the box of jug shards in her hands.

"Bring that," she said to Tony with a lift of her chin towards the almost empty jug on the side table.

Loki watched them leave the room, brows furled slightly in confusion as to why Eir was ordering around a mortal. And why Tony Stark of all mortals was allowing her to do so.

He found out a short while later when Tony reappeared without Eir, but instead ushering in Pepper who brought a copy of the Alliance Agreement for them to both look over.

That was pretty much when, as Thor would say, the Bildgesnipe hit the picket line.

OoooO

"You bastard!" The godling screamed jumping up from the couch, the papers crumpled in his fist where a moment earlier he had been merely making tch-ing noises and occasionally snorting in disgust.

Not that those were necessarily the noises Tony had expected to hear if ever he proposed to someone. Granted they weren't shrill shrieks of joy or something else that would cause his ears to start bleeding. And he was grateful for that, however….

"Let me guess," Pepper said, her head leaning on the two fingers that were massaging her temples and looking up at the enraged god through her bangs. "Clause fifteen?"

Loki spun on her like the personification of fury, "Yessssss," He hissed, putting way too many s's in the word. Pepper held up her hand.

"That was all Odin. It was a last minute thing; Tony wasn't even there when he barged in and added it."

"Added what?" Tony asked, hurried flipping through the papers he had been ignoring. He was there when they made the deal, he didn't think he needed to look through them again, but obviously he was wrong.

"Oh." He said in a small voice, perching on the edge of the couch, a blush rising up his neck as he kept his eyes on the paper, not daring to take his eyes off the paper.

"Oh?" Loki spat shaking the crumpled contract in front of him.

"Oh!?' That's all you have to say?" His other hand shot out and grabbed Tony's bangs yanking his head back so he was forced to meet the god's flashing eyes.

**_"OH?!"_** Loki shrieked, his voice hitting octaves that Tony hadn't known a male voice could reach right before he slammed Tony's head hard with the palm of his hand.

Of course the fact that Loki could reach those octaves might have been part of the reason for Odin to stick in clause fifteen.

But perhaps it was best not to express that thought.

Flowing up on to Tony in a way that Tony did know he could, Loki pinned him against the backrest of the couch, the rolled up and crumpled contract shoved painfully under his chin as Loki began screaming at the top of his lungs in Elvish, or old Æsir or fucking Swahili for all Tony knew.

Pepper leapt to her feet.

Tony waved a hand frantically and shot her a 'just don't' look. He was worried that she would surprise the god if she reached for him and get struck in an adrenalin fueled accident. So long as Loki was only screaming, he figured he should let him vent a little. Lord knew the guy could use it. Lord knows Tony deserved it.

Pepper, due no doubt to their many years of subliminal communication, not only knew to back off right away, but she even hurried over when he heard the door open to make sure the guard didn't come in and escalate the situation. Confident that she would handle the guard, Tony turned his attention back to the screaming maniac on top of him.

Slowly, so as not to startle the screaming god, Tony drifted his hands up the sides of Loki's legs to his waist and then allowed them to settle lightly against the small of the gods back. Loki didn't so much as flinch when Tony started rubbing what he hoped were soothing circles on either side of the god's spine. There was something so sexy about a snarling Loki that Tony made a mental note to dust out his kink closet, because surely he should not have to wrestle against getting a boner while being screamed at so loud that masonry on the ceiling vault was in danger of being shaken loose.

But it was. The cloudy, dull jade eyes were now bright green with anger and Loki's thin pale cheeks were flushed an attractive pink, the only problem as Tony saw it, was that the man crouched over him, wouldn't shut up and kiss him.

Okay, so the jabbing him under the jaw with the contract was a bit annoying, so that was a second problem. And maybe the fact that he was no doubt missing out on some really imaginative cussing, but honestly that was all. He decided to at least address the last problem when Loki paused after an amazingly long string of vindictiveness to take a deep breath.

"Buddy, I understand you're upset, but if you could just swear in English so I could understand you, that would be a big help."

For a moment, a tiny one, so small an instant that it was hardly worth noting, the god paused. Jerking upright as if stuck with a pin, Loki looked at him amazed and then the Norse god of Righteous Indignation let loose another torrent of screaming, thankfully mostly in English this time.

You had to give it to him, Tony thought admiringly. The guy could swear up a storm.

A storm that Tony was content to ride out. His eyes roamed over Loki's face, taking in every change he could find, the slightly pinched look around his nose from losing weight again, committing to memory the way his god's silky black hair always seemed to escape from behind his ears, drifting down in odd tendrils that caressed his sharp cheekbones... Noticing how complete he felt to be this close, with his hands on caressing Loki's back.

So yeah, there was some pretty vile stuff being spouted, and frankly Tony was being referred to in a manner that would have made his childhood house keeper look to the heavens for assistance. But for the most part none of it was exactly wrong, and amazingly enough, while imaginative it wasn't as personal as Tony had expected it to be.

When the god had finally got all the 'insensitive oaf', 'unappreciative moron' along with other well deserved stuff spewed out in English, he then circled around to the match that had lit this little tinder blast. That being clause fifteen. Tony gave him his best puppy dog eyes, the ones he had cribbed off of Cap'n Spangles when he was disappointed with Tony.

Hey, what do ya know, they worked.

Loki wound down, stopped shouting and just glared at Tony.

"I didn't know about it Lo. I definitely wouldn't have asked for it, I understand how it would upset you, hell it would upset anyone to have this sprung on them." Ignoring the suddenly narrowing eyes Tony pushed on soothingly. "I'll go with you to your mother to see if maybe we can all get together and convince Odin to change it."

Which was apparently exactly the wrong thing to say.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

As always comments and reviews are greatly appreciated.

**If you aren't a comment or review kind of person then Favs and Follows would be wonderful.**

They all help the story placement on the search engine. Many thanks to my faithful commenters and of course to all that have Fav'd and Followed in the past.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

Beta'd by the most wonderful** Mima Mia. **Many, many thanks for your assistance.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

**TRIGGER WARNINGS** – **TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS -TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS**

This chapter will *contain or mention* - Self medication with stolen drugs by a depressed person if this is a problem for you please don't read this chapter

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I don't own the Avengers or Thor, they are the property of Marvel and Disney, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.


	4. Chapter 4 - Are we good?

**Chapter Summary** - After housing the God of Mischief in his tower for several years Loki is recalled to Asgard. This leaves Tony minus a lab partner, wingman and buddy to snark with on Movie Night. Pepper has moved to the west coast and married, SHIELD is doing some crazy shit. With the exception of occasionally seeing Bruce, Tony doesn't have much interaction with his former team mates. He wonders how it is possible to feel so lonely in a city so full of people. He's and engineer, he decides to fix this. - Sequel to Queens Grace. You do not have to have read Queens Grace to follow this.

Starting premise - Loki has was recalled to Asgard after several years of being a prisoner in Stark Tower as a favor to Queen Frigga when Asgard proved to be too dangerous to his now mortal and memory altered self. After his recall, Loki and Tony started a long distance friends with benefits relationship that takes place on Loki's yearly reward visit to Midgard.

**TRIGGER WARNINGS IN END NOTES PLEASE READ IF YOU MIGHT HAVE A PROMBLEM WITH CERTAIN SUBJECT MATTER. **

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**Summary -** Throwing fits and cat nip.

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**Chapter 4 – We good?**

The very idea that someone thought that Odin would ever change his mind to benefit his younger son sent Loki into a towering rage that made the previous one look like a kid pouting over getting one cookie instead of two. Loki started spewing English, Elvish, old Æsir, fucking Swahili and something that sounded like it would normally be heard in a cat fight.

A lot of spitting and hissing, but thankfully no claws. At least not yet.

Tony was kind of marveling at the volume and the amount of syllables the god could get out on a single breath of air when Loki jumped off of him still screaming at the top of his lungs.

"I can't take it anymore; I'm tired of putting up with his sanctimonious commands! I'm going to geld the pompous son-of-a-whore with my belt buckle!"

**_Shit!_**

_Not good. So not good._

Odin did not seem to Tony like he was the kind of god who put up with anyone but himself having a meltdown. From the look of horror on Pepper's face she agreed.

"No Lo, you can't do that." Tony yelped scrambling to grab and hold onto Loki's arm, wrestling to keep him from charging towards the door. He swung the younger god around, trying to get him to stop screaming long enough to listen to reason.

"Let!"

"Me!"

"Go!"

It wasn't a full on nut shot… but it was close enough to make Tony stagger for a few moments.

Yeah, Loki fought dirty. Tony had kinda forgot about that.

It took several minutes, all three guards and the liberal application of some sort of mortal nip that Tony had asked Eir for in case of a minor emergency.

So much mortal nip that Tony, Pepper and Aldfrig ending up practically pouring the Trickster into his court garb.

OoooO

Pepper and Tony had fought hard on the deal with Odin. And while neither was happy with the concessions and terms of the final agreement, neither was Odin.

If no one was happy with a deal at the end, it must be fair to both sides Tony supposed with an internal sigh as Odin droned on, going over each clause in more than enough detail to have both him and Thor almost falling asleep.

Tony knew there were many things about this arrangement that were not going to make Loki the least bit happy. But as mitigating as some of the circumstances had been, when it was all said and done, the trickster god simply had no sense of balance. His response to a serious threat was to attempt complete annihilation. A solution of that sort was by its very nature permanent, but really not a good way of solving problems.

Mainly because it tended to upset a lot of people, and not just the ones being permanently eliminated as a threat.

Tony tried not to listen to the voice in the back of his head that pointed out how often this had also been his own preferred response to problems. But hey, fuck that. Tony was just going to have to learn to be responsible and level headed enough for both of them, because frankly the alternative of having the both of them stuck in that mindset did not bode well for civilization as a whole.

While Tony had been out to the BiFrost and then later in Loki's quarters with the healer, Odin's senior Logmar, a few of his clerks and Pepper had hammered out the final official version of the agreement.

Big one being, Loki would get his magic back. Fly in that ointment was that his mortal body would not be able to generate enough power for him to use it as easily as he could have in the old days. For instance, he could still decide to skip out on everyone by transporting himself through some portal or other, but a trip of any distance would so severely deplete him that he would most likely fall into an 'Odin' sleep. Or healing coma as Midgard would say once he got where he was going. This would give them time to track and retrieve him using a rune which Odin was going to place on him. So he could use any of his magic to do small experiments with or to protect himself in a pinch, but wouldn't have enough juice to pull off a major working or rain destruction down on anyone.

Whether he wanted it or not, which for the record he didn't, until such time as Loki was deemed to have become stable, Loki's immortal strength was being gifted to Tony to assist him in controlling Frigga's little boy. The head god not even entertaining the idea that Tony could do it without the strength of an Æsir.

Tony briefly debated informing Odin exactly why he didn't really need it. Unknown to Odin and of course SHIELD, his Extremis research for Pepper had allowed him to isolate the strength portion of that drug. Without the regenerative qualities that produced the more serious unwanted side effects, the drug was almost viable. Almost being something to remember. Fortunately Tony had the added buffer of the rune induced damage control which allowed him to fine tune the serum's effects on his body before it could kill him. But in the end he kept quiet thinking to himself. If Loki's strength could be gifted to him from Odin, it might keep it from getting permanently lost someday if the old fart died unexpectedly or something. Besides maybe Loki could figure out a way for Tony to slip it to him on the sly. At any rate it didn't benefit Loki for Odin to house it. So hey, Tony might as well keep track of it for him.

_After all it wasn't like he could set it down somewhere and forget it._

Because the conditions for Loki to regain his strength were so open ended, they had naturally caused a long discussion. Pepper wanted to nail down an agreement on exactly what proof of stability would consist of and making sure to get clear benchmarks. Once Loki's strength was returned to him… it would, like his magic, be subject to Tony yanking one or both at need. Read that one as 'If Loki goes crazy'. Not that Tony could use the magic; he would only be able to house it while he restricted Loki from using it.

After the BiFrost was complete Loki would be permitted to spend half the year on Midgard, coming and going as he pleased while under Tony's supervision. With of course the proviso that no time would be credited to his sentence while he was not on Asgard or engaged in a task for the All Father. Tony was particularly proud of that last clause, since he was pretty sure he could interest Odin in a few projects that the mischief maker could be researching and developing while living on Midgard. At that time, Tony would be permitted to accompany him if he chose to do so, provided he did not piss off the All-Father too much and get a time out from Asgard.

Of course it wasn't actually worded that way, but that is how it sounded when Odin rolled it out.

Until the BiFrost was completed, Tony would be permitted to come to Asgard for one whole day every other Earthgardian month, not Æsir turn, with Loki permitted to visit Midgard for one day on the alternate months.

Until the rest of his five hundred years was complete, Loki's services were subject to being claimed by the crown for various tasks. Which he was not permitted to refuse. Although from the '_hurump'_ and look Frigga gave Odin when she heard that clause, Tony would bet that the Queen would be monitoring the tasks quite closely.

The clause that had been added after Tony had left, the one that got Loki worked up into a frenzy was Clause fifteen. Loki would be able to keep his outward appearance or shift completely female… But unless he was female, certain other physical aspects would be locked into a dual form that was rare, but not unheard of in some of the older male Æsir sorcerers.

Even cat nipped up as he was, Loki growled menacingly. Which was met by an even more impressive growl from Odin, "Loki it is either this or you will shift and be locked into one of your female forms until you have successfully presented your husband with an heir."

"Spouse, we agreed the term was spouse," Tony said hurriedly, rolling an eye towards his angry, punch drunk, drugged up 'spouse' to be. "Not husband, not wife, spouse okay?" Although an irreverent voice inside of him thought about how much fun it would be to actually use the term Princess without the risk of getting slugged by his god. While it might be fun for Tony to have a full time princess, he wasn't sure he wanted to chance having to live with a Loki that actually could suffer from physical PMS as opposed to the mental PMS he was already afflicted with.

Not that the god would not make a stunning chick, long, slim, sexy hips, those eyes, those cheek bones, that hair….

Frigga cleared her throat pointedly.

Earlier Loki had refused to go, so Tony escorted by Aldfrig, _had _paid a lighting visit to the Queen before the meeting started to explain what the problem was. She assured him that she would do her best to talk Odin into some sort of concession.

Odin all but rolled his eyes at her before continuing, "In the event of the successful birth of a child of this union, your sentence will be commuted." He bent his gaze upon the trickster, "Barring any unfortunate incidents here or on Midgard."

If this was Odin's idea of a concession then maybe Loki had been correct when he asserted that Frigga wouldn't be able to change the king's mind.

Ignoring a less than discrete glare from Frigga the All Father continued, "In which case your hus—spouse would have proven unable to control you, this would thus be an indication that the union should be dissolved and your original sentence reinstated and modified to reflect the new transgression."

"Ah, you will note that the term agreed to is proven illegal by the prevailing pre-existing legal code and an independent jury?" Pepper queried, looking steadily at Asgard's supreme ruler, who unable to out stare her, huffed in agreement. "And we will need the document officially amended with these new items before signing."

Odin sighed heavily and made the necessary notations on a paper thin screen he had with him. Pepper apparently could even wear down the King of the Universe. Not that Tony had doubted 'that' for a moment.

"Oh come on," Tony said leaning over and shoulder bumping Loki, trying to cheer the god up. "What's the worst that can happen? You've been a good boy for years and I've always wanted to call you princess anyhow."

Loki raised such a woebegone face and Tony's heart almost broke. Apparently there wasn't enough cat nip left in his system to lift the broken trickster's spirits with the finality of this discussion sucking the last bits of hope right out of him.

Finally obedient to the pointed look his wife was giving him to move it along, Odin quickly detailed the rights and responsibilities Tony and Loki would have for each other, towards Midgard and more importantly to Odin, towards Asgard.

Odin tapped his paper a few times and an amended document popped up through a previously absent slot in the table. He waved his hand until a pen appeared, signed the papers and slid them over like an unexploded bomb to sit in front of Tony for him to sign. An almost inaudible sigh escaped from the hunched figure beside him.

Thor looked worriedly from his brother beside him to his mother on the other side of the table.

Okay, so this wasn't going to work, Tony thought.

"Be right back," Tony told the room with desperate cheerfulness as he stood and hauled the lethargic Trickster up with him. "Come on Bambi, I want a quick word with you."

Hustling the stumbling god into the adjoining room he looked around quickly and then shut the door behind them. Towing Loki over to a low, ridiculously well-padded window seat that was well away from any eavesdropping at the door, Tony sat Loki down and stood in front of him.

"You are just going to make him angry with this delay," Loki told him in a detached voice. Apparently exhausted from the screaming fit he had thrown earlier, the fight with Tony, the fight with his guards, and the hour long haranguing that Pepper had subjected him to while Tony was speaking to the queen. Not to mention of course the kick ass drugs he was currently flying with.

"Fuck 'em. I need a minute here." Tony muttered, running one hand up the side of Loki's throat while his other hand snaked behind his head holding it still. He tipped his wrist a bit and counted far more beats then he wanted to find on Loki's pulse point. "Damn, you're sweating again," he told him unnecessarily, brushing the hand no longer counting heart beats up and across Loki's damp temple to his hair.

Placing two fingers under the troubled god's chin he lifted it, locking his brown eyes to weary green ones. "We don't have to do this if it bothers you that badly. I know you're mad at me, but I honestly wouldn't have even suggested this if I didn't think you would agree to it." Tony said, hoping that the god would not bail on him no matter how much he might deserve it.

"Why are you doing this?" Loki asked drearily, taking advantage of the first time they had been alone since Tony arrived on Asgard. He didn't know it, but that was a question Tony had been asking himself since he started this whole process.

Dropping down beside him, twining his arm with Loki's and forcing the god's hand open so he could knit their fingers together Tony gave a half laugh. "Fuck if I know Reindeer Games." He laid his chin on the taller god's shoulder, looking at his strong profile, sculpted features and the sad little frown that hadn't lifted the entire time he'd been here. He was really hoping the frown wasn't because Tony was here. "Why not? If we don't do this then I'll most likely never see you again."

Seeing the incredulous expression flowing across Loki's face, he hurried to interrupt whatever it was the god was opening his mouth to say. "I'd miss you. I have missed you. I've missed you ever since they dragged your snarky prissy attitude and cute little ass back to Asgard the first time."

Tony tugged the god over towards him with their twined arm and rubbed his face on Loki's shoulder. "One of my greatest recent regrets is that I was a thoughtless jerk last year and didn't get to see you or even get to have my pen pal this whole last year," He said, voice huskier than he would have liked. "And worse I hurt your feelings and ruined the one time a year you get to de-stress and enjoy yourself without all of Ass-gard judging every breath you take."

"Recent regrets?" Loki asked faintly on the tail end of a deep breath.

"Well yeah, I've had so many of them over the years I have to qualify you know." Tony ducked his head and gave Loki a sideways half-grin. "The worst part is most of them where my own making. And let me tell you that really sucks."

"You don't think this a bit drastic? It's not like," a blush rose from Loki's neck to his sweating temples as he turned his face away, trying to slow his breathing. "We were even really… intimate, intimate."

"No I don't think it's too drastic, not if you don't."

Attempting humor to see where it would get him, Tony fluttered his eyes up at the forlorn face above him, "Although I have been meaning to compliment you on how well you have been managing to do the nasty all these years and still hold on to your virtue. You are a totally distracting pro that way. So distracting it took me years to realize it even after I outted you."

Tony rubbed his nose against Loki's jaw again. "Such a talented trickster."

Except for a deepening of his already present blush, Loki ignored the billionaire's attempt to make him laugh, which was not that big a surprise to Tony.

"Are you sure you wouldn't just rather marry some mortal woman and have a normal life?"

"Please. You do know I'm Tony Stark don't you? Tony Stark doesn't do normal. Besides, why would I want to marry someone I'm going to outlive?"

Annoyed, Loki pulled away from Tony crossing both his arms defensively across his chest, "The rune can be removed you know. You would merely start to age naturally again."

"Oh fuck no. I am going to live to piss on the graves of everyone who ever gave me any grief. Fury will need extra drainage for his plot. Besides," he swung his arm across Loki's back and hugged him close, "There is no way in hell I am going to leave you alone with these fuckers up here. Unless you pitch a fit over it, we're going to do this thing, fix their fucking bridge and get your ass back on Midgard so you can be happy for a while. Okay?"

Loki, still turned away, was looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

"I told you many years ago Stark. I don't share." Loki, still turned away, looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

"You did. I got the message."

"Apparently not Stark, or we would have never come to this impasse." Loki's lips thinned to a hard tight line and he started straight ahead.

And that, from the dismissive little huff Loki directed towards him, was it in a nutshell. Tony stood, moving to stand right in front of Loki. He ran his hands almost reflectively up and down the god's arms for a moment before cupping them against the back of Loki's neck and using his thumbs to nudge his chin up. Meeting the green eyes looking up at him, Tony put every ounce of persuasion into his voice that he knew how. "Loki, I'm not going to tell you that I'll change. Because honestly I don't think people really do. But I will tell you that I've decided to grow up. That I can promise you."

And from the thoughtful look that flowed across Loki's face that had not been something he expected to have hear.

Tony waited a moment, to see if the god was going to come back with a rebuttle of some sort.

To Tony's great relief, he didn't. But his look did grow thoughtful.

"Oh come on Loki, you hate this place, you have for years, even before your memory loss you hated it. So what's wrong? Did I fuck up so bad that you changed your mind about coming to live on Earth?" Tony asked, trying to coax the god to go along with the plan. "You know, living with a billionaire is generally considered to be a good thing on Earthgard."

Slowly, obviously fighting his way past the drugs Loki "I may hate it, but it is still my home. Even after my sentence is finished, I'll have to come back here if I ever want to visit my mother..." His voice was so sad, so tired, so ragged, that Tony could barely stand it. "This agreement is not going to sit well with most of Asgard. It will most likely always be an issue."

Loki looked searchingly at Tony, took a deep breath and continued almost reluctantly, "Truthfully, I have to tell you that I've been playing you Stark. Since the day my mother arrived to bring me back to Asgard, I've been playing you to secure a place for myself in case of emergency."

When Loki had paused for so long, Tony had worked himself up into an internal little panic. But strangely enough the knot of tension that had lodged itself in his chest dissipated upon hearing this confession. If that is what Loki had to tell himself to make it through the day, Tony could live with it.

Relieved he bent and touched his forehead to Loki's.

"You know what? I'm fine with that. I'd be the last person to tell you not to look out for your own best interests. As for the rest…. Fuck 'em, you being a magic user instead of a sword swinging maniac is already an issue with them. And besides, your mother can come visit you on earth, even without Thor or Odin. Hell, I'll make a floor for Asgard; your mom can have a room there. We'll stick your guards there so she'll have protection; hire more from her birth realm if we need to. We can even declare it Asgard's 'Embassy."

Tony felt bad that Loki was so worried about having to deal with internal guilt for his past behavior in regards to Tony and the almost certain grief from the Æsir in general and the court in particular. However he is mostly worried that Loki will try to torch the damn place, magic or no magic once he finds out the whole story of the last few years.

Taking in the god's woebegone expression Tony continued, "Look, unless you decide you don't want to, which I am totally willing to take the heat for, Odin is going to do this deal. That isn't in question right now. Since we weren't allowed to have your direct input into the negotiations, I asked your mom to look over the terms and she agrees they're as good as we're going to get."

Tony patted his knee, "So… What do you say? Are we good to go?"

"You are undoubtedly a fool Stark."

"Again, Rudolf, you aren't telling me anything I haven't already heard before."

OoooO

Shortly after Tony and Loki returned to sign the contracts, Odin declared it was time to go to dinner.

When Tony protested that they hadn't had the Q&A session yet, Big Daddy All Father declared that, 'such words would go better after we all eat'." So like it or not, they are going to dinner now.

Lagging behind and leaving Pepper outside to guard the door and give instructions for later to Loki's personal guards, Tony crowded his distressed god into the corner, pulled out his tin of Mortal Nip and stuck it under Loki's nose. "Come on Mister Mistoffelees," He urged. "Take a couple of good whiffs. You really need to settle down if we have to go make nice with daddy at dinner." Since Loki had started pulling in oxygen like a jet engine the moment they had sat back down across from Odin, he couldn't help but immediately get several big lungsful of the pungent salve. Especially since Tony was following his movements when he tried to turn his face away, keeping the drug right in front of his face.

Watching closely, Tony could see Loki's breathing slow down and his eyes losing the over sharp focus they got when he was stressing. "Okay, I think that will do." He started to pull the tin away when Loki grabbed his hand and inhaled a few more times. "Okay, good, but no more or we'll be pouring you into your seat." Tony told him, straining to tug the tin away.

"Is it working?" Pepper asked having popped back in to the room a minute earlier.

"Yeah, I think it is," Tony told her with a small smile, noting the slower breathing pattern of the man beside him. "Looks like it worked real well, hell maybe too well." Tony popped open the tin and took a couple of hits to calm his nerves.

"Tony!" Pepper snapped.

"What? I'm nervous and stressed too." He mock whined, before looking respectfully at the now re-closed tin. "Pep, this is some great stuff. You want to try it?"

"No, Tony. At least one of us will have to stay on the ball."

"Are we going to dinner Tony?" Loki asked, leaning boneless against the wall.

"Yeah buddy, we are right now. Are you hungry?" He asked as he guided a fairly woozy Loki to the door to pick up their guard contingent and join in the festivities. Or at least what passes for festivities in the land of crazy space Vikings.

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Beta'd by the most wonderful** Mima Mia. **Many, many thanks for your assistance.

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**TRIGGER WARNINGS** – **TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS -TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS**

**This chapter will *mention* - Arranged marriage, Forced compatibility, intersexual beings and *contain* character being subject to dubious / involuntary drugging and slightly recreational drug use. If this is a problem for you please don't read it. Most of it is glossed over, but some areas could get trigger-y for people sensitive on those topics. Please DO NOT READ if you will have issues with any of these items.**

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I don't own the Avengers or Thor, they are the property of Marvel and Disney, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.


	5. Chapter 5 - Dinner with the other folks

**Chapter Summary** - Tony and Pepper experience dining Asgardian style and Fandral manages to aggravate Tony over dinner.

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Our story so far - A year after Loki was returned to Asgard, Frigga arranged for Loki and Tony to correspond and for Loki to visit Earth for one evening without Odin knowing about it. Only thing was Tony didn't realized it a secret so he was babbling on about it during a time when Odin turned his gaze towards Thor's companions. Despite Odin declaring that he didn't want Loki to return to Earth again, Frigga arranged a yearly visit for her younger son as long as he was disguised... Surprised that Tony didn't recognize him in his female form, Loki thought it would be funny to string him along a few years. Not an unusual set up time for a godly jape. But eventually Tony caught on and they continued to meet yearly until the year Tony became so excited at the change to buy a rare an antique car he'd been wanting that he not only forgot Loki's visit, but got drunk and brought a date home with him while Loki watched from the terrace. So Loki decided not to visit Earth any more, instead trading his now sanctioned yearly visit for a loosening of the restrictions on his powers. Additionally Loki cut off all personal communication with Tony. Frantic to resume his relationship with his best bud with benefits Tony begs Frigga for entry into Asgard to propose an alliance between Loki and himself.

**Beta'd by the ever wonderful Mima Mia. **

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**TRIGGER WARNINGS IN END NOTES PLEASE READ IF YOU MIGHT HAVE A PROMBLEM WITH CERTAIN SUBJECT MATTER. **

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Chapter 5 –Dinner with the other folks

It was your standard block-buster movie, dining hall of the gods. Tons of gold… Gold on the walls, gold on the tables and gold on the lavishly dressed guests being paraded up to the high table so that they could greet Odin and the queen.

Not that Tony cared; he'd spent the whole of the first course carrying on a whispered conversation with his completely blitzed godling. Although, Tony was of the firm opinion those last few whiffs of Mortal-nip might have been a mistake. Once again taking the wine goblet out of Loki's unresisting fingers he set it slightly out of reach. "Why don't you try some of this?" he urged, handing Loki a goblet of juice that Pepper had managed to discretely request once they had realized the full extent of Loki's Mortal-Nip intoxication. No matter how much being in Odin's company and on display at the high table stressed him out, the Trickster didn't need to be drunk as well as high.

Looking around for something to distract Loki from frowning down at the fruit juice, Tony glanced at the receiving line.

"Holy hell. Who is that guy?" Tony squeaked under his breath, nudging the distracted Loki to get his attention. Possibly one of the top ten hottest looking guys Tony had even seen, after of course sex on legs sitting beside him, was approaching the high table. Tall, slim, great cheekbones, creamy flawless complexion, silver white hair and dark ruby eyes. Elric of Melniboné had nothing on this guy. Beside him, Tony heard Pepper give a smothered gasp, so he knew it wasn't just him.

"Hummm?" Loki murmured distractedly, casting heavily lidded eyes towards the receiving line to see who Tony was referring to before returning his attention to his goblet. "Oh. That's King Frey's friend Lord Alfhild... His very close friend," Loki said, straightening up and peering at the object of Tony's curiosity. "He is most likely here visiting his sister."

"He's an Asgardian?" Tony asked, taking in the details of his scarlet and black outfit, constructed so much like what Loki normally wore, but in some kind of heavy Dupioni-like silk which hugged the slim figure closely and emphasized its natural hotness.

"No, of course not." Loki tutted, "He's Álfheimr, no respectable Asgardian male would appear in public like that," he said, raking his eye down the man's form.

Oh...

_What a damn shame_, Tony thought spirits plummeting.

"Mine were certainly prettier," Loki observed dismissively.

Tony almost got mental whiplash.

"Your what was prettier?" Tony asked, still not able to take his eyes off the guy, ideas churning, a tiny spark of hope flaring up in him.

"My Silda-raana Lintitinwe of course." Loki leaned over very close to Tony, his breath warming Tony's ear, "It means Moon and Stars. Of course mine were usually gold accented with emeralds not silver and rubies." Tony's glance slid over just in time to take in a frown and the beginnings of a heart melting pout. "I also had a set of emeralds and diamonds chased with adamantite, but I gave them all away before I returned to Asgard. It's not like I could wear them here." Loki huffed, his pout intensifying.

_Okay, that particular pout was new, but really fucking cute._ Tony could totally live with a gorgeous god that pouted, as long as they looked that adorable.

Maybe they had overdone it just a bit with Eir's relaxation med, but Tony decided to try and get a goodly supply of Asgardian Mortal-Nip to take home with him. Some to analyze, some for emergency calming of highly strung gods, maybe some for Brucie baby to see if it could recall Mean Green quicker… Loki's free hand found his under the table and laced their fingers together. Definitely some for the both of them to use recreationally to de-stress after a hard day and all that. After all Eir had assured him it wasn't habit forming or anything.

Leaning closer to Tony, Loki's purring voice recalled his attention, "I gave my favorite set to Lord Frey's official consort… They were worthy of nothing less than royalty," he said, his words slurring slightly.

Tony slowly turned his head towards Loki, the god hadn't moved so their faces were separated only by inches.

"You wore a set like that in your hair?" Tony asked breathlessly, just to make sure he wasn't misunderstanding.

King Frey's good buddy was wearing several different types of jewels scattered through his long hair at various heights. Some were clear sparkling diamond-like stones affixed high, some were ruby drops that swung on invisible threads and occasionally he had tiny sparkling silver and ruby crusted beads somehow laced onto various thin strands of hair.

"No." Loki replied petulantly, dashing Tony's hopes. Long lashes swept down a moment in remembrance, all black and feathery on high pale cheek bones before flicking back up. His deep green gaze caught Tony's. "Not at all like those, I told you mine were exquisite, the jewels were flawless and the craftsmanship superb."

Tony was caught up in thinking how fucking hot Loki would look decked out in a silky outfit like that rather than his normal layer upon layer of stiff leather, with his glorious black hair sprinkled with jewels...

The mental image caused his brain to shut down.

OoooO

Pepper was a miracle worker. With only a few whispered words and a pair of raised eyebrows from Tony, as soon as the second course was presented and people in the hall were free to move around she had excused herself with a good natured sigh and managed to hunt down a member of Lord Alfhild's entourage. Fortunately, the Álfheimr like the Æsir did the All Speak thing and Pepper was able to gather information and recommendations from her. After a quick discussion with the Lady Meral about tailors and jewellers, Pepper messaged a few of Loki's guards that weren't on hall duty, returned to their suite to pick up some items and then returned to the high table to wait.

After that Tony completely lost track of her comings and goings. Every time she sat down, a servant would come whisper in her ear and she would tell Tony she was going to go consult with Odin's Logmars, meet with someone recommended to her, check with the guards or something else that Tony wasn't pay any attention to. Frigga noticed, but Thor and Loki were oblivious to her comings and goings. Thor because he was being typically princely and telling loud stories about Midgard to his friends, Loki because he was still just this side of somnolent. The young god had more than once leaned heavily on Tony whispering all the terrible things he was going to do and how miserable he was going to make the billionaire for agreeing to anything with Odin… Before rousing and making an effort to talk answer something his mother was asking him.

OoooO

Loki was stroking his thumb along the back of Tony's hand and right in the middle of a long rambling list of things he wanted changed in the tower, interspersed with a descriptions of the knife play Tony was going to experience if he ever cheated once they were joined, when a loud shout of laughter from Thor derailed every conversation at the high table.

Tony sighed.

Apparently too loudly for Pepper's patience as she viciously jabbed him in the ribs. He turned accusing eyes upon her, "Jeeze Pep."

Pepper was still extremis enhanced in the strength department and when she jabbed his ribs, even just in passing to try to shut him up…. It fricken hurt. Unfortunately for Tony's ribs, she seemed to have taken care of most of her business and was settled back at the table so she could resume her 'Tony sitting'duties.

"Don't you have anyone else to go and bother?" He grumbled.

"Oh, Tony, I'm so sorry. It was an accident." Pepper cooed with all the sincerity of a beauty contestant complimenting her chief rival. Rolling his eyes, he noticed that while he and Loki had been talking…

Okay, so maybe it had been more like Loki had been venting and threatening with maybe a side of honey-do listing, while Tony let the sound of Loki's voice wash over him while he gazed into his god's gorgeous green eyes. At any rate, while they had been enjoying each other, the people sitting on the other side of the table from him had been rotating in and out with each course. Kind of like the Æsir version of speed dating. Apparently Space Vikings liked to mingle during dinner, so there was a lot of coming and going. Just not enough of the 'going' part to suit Tony as Thor greeted the Fuckers Four.

"Sit my friends, I would like to introduce you to my Midgardian Shield Brother," the Thunderer boomed, gesturing at seats opening up in front of them as some contemporaries of Odin's were getting up to leave. Zena and Loki had practically hissed at each other when she passed them to go sit down.

"Loki," Frigga admonished under her breath as she stood, eliciting an angry shrug from her dark haired son, before she and Odin drifted over to speak to the Álfheimr contingent several tables away.

With well-practiced moves, the dining staff, yet again, cleared everyone's places and set up for the dessert course as Thor's friends settled across from him them, flanked by a couple of people introduced to Tony as senior weapons instructors. Jackie Chan, the least objectionable of the four as far as Tony was concerned ended up sitting across from Loki, Eryol Flynn and Burl Ives across from Odin and Frigga's empty seats and fortunately Zena pain-in-the-ass was the furthest away, sitting across from Thor.

Hogan was the strong quiet type, her Sif-ness was content to glower at Tony. Why Sif was glaring at him he had no fricken clue. After all he wasn't the one who hissed at her. Volstagg was a truly dedicated trencherman whose job it was apparently to agree with or collaborate whatever was being said in between bites, which left Fandral to take up the conversational burden for the group. Between him and Thor recounting their past deeds of glory, anyone else would be hard pressed to get a word in edgewise. Seemingly impressed with Thor's description of a fight between the Avengers and the Abomination, Sir Lady Locks tried to engage Tony in a discussion of group tactics. Volstagg occasionally chimed in with a question for Tony, but since talking took time away from his eating, he didn't interject too often.

Tony was getting antsy. He wished the king and queen would just hurry up with their damn visiting so they could get Loki's damn Q&A session over. Distracted and frankly disinterested in talking to anyone who caused Loki to tense up like he did, it took more than a few prompts from Pepper to get him to respond to Fandral. And when he did, it wasn't at any great length, because frankly he could care less what Dashing and Debonair thought of his short answers and reluctance to elaborate. Eventually the blonde blabber mouth launched into telling his own tales leaving Tony to listen with half an ear while chivvying Loki to eat a bit more. All while silently willing Odin and Frigga to hurry the fuck up.

Eventually, even Fandral had to pause and take a breath so Tony decided to grab the conversational reins. "Hey Loki, how come you never went on any of these quests?" Tony asked.

"I was with them," Loki said quietly, lifting tired eyes from his plate.

"Indeed he was," boomed Thor. "I would not leave my brother behind when there was glory to be won."

"So you were there when they took on the Stone Dragons?" Tony asked the still slightly woozy god whose forehead wrinkled in deep thought. Tony held up a hand, to keep Fandral from chiming in. He was talking to '_his'_ god, not the John Frieda reject.

"Yes, of course. I made multiple duplicates of all of us so the Dragons would be confused about where to strike." Loki paused a moment shrugging. "I also put a dagger in the throat of their handler. Without him directing them, they were really much easier to kill."

"Really?"

Loki wrinkled up his face and nodded. "Really."

"What about that Battle of Hamstimmer that Volstagg insisted that he tell?"

"HimeStamyr? Ummm, let me think… I had scry'd to find out which band of warriors actually contained their leader and I think I shape shifted as one of them…"

"A sentry Loki, you shape shifted to look like one of the sentries," Thor boomed.

Loki's head bobbed loosely, "A sentry," He agreed, "So I could take out the other sentries so they had no warning of our approach."

"And you fell off your horse," Volstagg said with a laugh. "Noted horseman that you are."

Brows furling, Tony looked at Thor and then at Fandral and Volstagg, "Okay… so why wasn't the sentry bit mentioned when Errol Flynn and the Round Guy here were telling that story?"

"Freind Tony, normally everyone tells their own tales, and Loki has never been one to boast overmuch."

"Yeah, not buying it Thor. Chunky Monkey and Vidal Sassoon over there told us every detail of what the rest of you guys were doing in exhaustive detail, but I don't recall them even mentioning that Loki was even there. Hell, Chubby even recounted what you guys cooked for dinner."

"Ah well you see, the tales mainly focus on the fighting," Fandral explained, he looked over at Volstagg. "Usually."

"Which none of you might have gotten to or survived without his help right?" Tony asked, his voice picking up volume. Pepper elbowed him hard enough to make him grunt.

"We did mention that Loki fell off his horse."

It was all Tony could do not to roll his eyes. Of course if he did, Pepper would probably jab him into next Tuesday. "Oh yeah, important detail there."

"Well I did," Loki admitted with a small lop sided grimace. "Terribly embarrassing, they had a coterie of Fire Drakes that Thor cut loose when he attacked, hoping they would turn on their masters in the confusion. Instead they disembowelled my horse. We had to put the poor thing down it was so injured."

Tony looked at Fandral, "So all Loki did that whole adventure was fall off his injured horse?"

"Well no, of course not."

"We went on quests without him." Sif said.

"Ay Sif, glorious deeds." Volstagg looked over at Tony, "Did you know Man of Iron that she once took on the destroyer all by herself?"

Thor let out a low groan and buried his face in his goblet.

"Please, it's Ironman or Tony. Enough with the man-of and son-of shit."

"She didn't kill it. Thor did." Fandral said hurriedly, trying to smooth over Tony's snit. He ended up raising his drink to Sif, "she was the first to stop it when she jumped on its back and struck her sword through it.

"Momentarily stopped it. Yeah, I heard about that one." Tony said dismissively.

Loki brows were drawn and he leaned forward, looking forward to get a better look at Fandral. "When did you fight the destroyer? Did someone break into the weapons vault while I was on Midgard?"

Fandral coughed, "Er.. No, actually.. It wasn't in the vault."

"Why wasn't it guarding the vault?" Loki asked frowning.

"You know what? It's not important." Tony said standing up, and tugging on Loki.

"But why-"

"Loki, I think your mom wants you." He said, nodding all around and waving to the Queen who had glanced over when he stood up. "Come on Bambi, let's say good night and see what your folks are up to."

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

As always comments and reviews are greatly appreciated.

**If you aren't a comment or review kind of person then Favs and Follows would be wonderful.**

They all help the story placement on the search engine. Many thanks to my faithful commenters and of course to all that have Fav'd and Followed in the past.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

Beta'd by the most wonderful** Mima Mia. **Many, many thanks for your assistance.

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**TRIGGER WARNINGS** – **TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS -TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS**

**This chapter will *allude to* - Arranged marriage, Forced compatibility, M on M relationships. **

**Please DO NOT READ if you will have issues with any of these items.**

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I don't own the Avengers or Thor, they are the property of Marvel and Disney, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.


	6. Chapter 6 - Time to come clean

**Chapter Summary** - Odin finally fesses up. Loki takes it about as well as can be expected. Tony comes prepared.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

Chapter 7 is still a mess and hasn't even been finished, let alone sent to be Beta'd... I will do my best to get it out on time, but just in case please be aware that I AM trying really hard, but sadly RL is pimp slapping me more than it has in the last five years. :(

**Beta'd by the wonderful Lavanyalabelle. **

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**TRIGGER WARNINGS IN END NOTES PLEASE READ IF YOU MIGHT HAVE A PROMBLEM WITH CERTAIN SUBJECT MATTER. **

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

**Chapter 6 - Time to come clean**

He hadn't had a day this bad in centuries, at least none that he still held the memories for. First there was Stark and his insane proposal, and though it galled him to his very core it was realistically the best solution that someone in Loki's position could ever hope for. Which for the record he had no intention of admitting.

_To anyone._

Even though it had been as painful as crawling across glass shards naked to sign the thing, Loki would have been a fool to turn the agreement down. Stark was certainly a vindictive, womanizing bastard, but he had a powerful position in his society and an abundance of wealth. Neither of which Loki had anymore. And no one knew better than Loki that the realms weren't very kind to those who were poor and powerless. Particularly when they hadn't been previously.

Granted Loki could try to rebuild his fortune once he was released. He wasn't stupid, but starting with almost nothing and surrounded by ill will… Well you could just say his chances for a misstep would be greatly increased and the likelihood of someone not waiting until he was down to kick him would almost be too high to be calculated.

Loki felt a shiver run down his spine.

_Damn Stark. _

The amazing part of the whole affair is that the wretched man didn't even know how much pressure Odin had been applying for just such an agreement. He had several times reminded Loki that as a prince he had very little say so in whom he married. As an imprisoned prince he had even less and that neither the choice nor the timing had ever been his to command.

Oh Loki could have totally spurned the mortal, acted so badly Stark would have retired in disgust… And then what? He would just end up shackled to another who was not as well positioned or as wealthy. He'd be subjected to the orders of some old fool who was granted occasional access to the crown in return for keeping his granddaughter's disgraced husband leashed and tucked away on some remote estate when his services weren't needed. The fallen prince's only worth beyond that how many children he could produce to provide a bit more of a tie with the royal family.

Not that he suspected Stark of that, the part about the children anyway. But Stark had already benefited greatly from his service to the royal family in ways no Æsir would have. He'd received health, healing, rare metals otherwise unavailable on his planet and tutoring in subjects unavailable in Midgard.

In the back of his mind he had always known how much the businessman benefited from their association. However the certain realization that sentiment was not what caused Stark to make this offer was like a sharp blow, an almost physical pain causing Loki to gasp and stumble slightly.

Stark's hand, tightened around his arm, steadying him, and Loki could almost feel the man's eyes upon him. The mortal no doubt thinking his misstep was from the drug he'd been given to calm him rather than the cosmic truth that had just forcibly presented itself for his edification.

_A truth that he had conveniently been ignoring during his yearly visits to Midgard. _

To the others who had presented themselves to Odin vying for an alliance, he would have been a financial burden in exchange for immediate access to the crown and future ties to the royal family. But to Stark… To Stark, Loki would have been a treasure beyond the dreams of avarice. Hadn't the mortal just this evening told Loki that he would be the last person to tell someone not to look out for their own best interests? The first thing to remember about interacting with Stark was that there always had to be something in it for him.

Knowledge, money, leverage, accolades, exclusivity…. The last being a major requirement. Stark revelled in being envied for the quality or uniqueness of his possessions. His ironman suits, his custom cars, his tower, his beach estate, his robots, Jarvis… And he now owned a fallen Prince from outer space who would give him sole access to an otherwise unreachable realm. Oh no, Stark would never join with someone normal, he'd said so himself not two hours ago. And from his years of watching the man, Loki knew he would never ally himself with someone who couldn't bring some grand prize to the table. That Loki also embodied, literally, a form that Stark desired in a bed partner would have just been a bonus for the mortal.

Loki's head felt like it was going to explode. With pain and dark thoughts swirling through him he decided his best interested lay with taking the irritating mortal's advice. Although he wasn't sure Stark would be too pleased with the results.

OoooO

It didn't take long for them to settle into the small receiving room his parents used for private gatherings. Father was of course sitting in his huge wingback chair; the wooden legs and arm supports were ornately carved, the cushions were a rich brown leather that almost shimmered. To Odin it was just a chair, but it could not have been more throne-like if it had been solid gold and inlaid with gems. Thor ignored the matching, slightly smaller chair beside him that mother usually sat in, choosing instead to pace back and forth behind the chairs. Tony and his mother flanked him on the buttery soft cream leather couch opposite the king, while Ms Potts sat in one of the russet silk over-stuffed chairs that completed the sides of the seating group, choosing the one nearest to the door.

Even knowing it was going to be very bad Loki was totally unprepared for exactly how very bad it ended up being. The runes writhing as they ripped themselves from his back were the least of the pain he had to endure. Physical pain after all would pass.

It was the bald recounting of his deeds during Thor's coronation and exile were so much worse than he could have expected. He turned wild eyes to Thor. How could he even stand to be in Loki's presence after such betrayal? What on earth had he been thinking to let Frost Giants into Asgard?! Granted he could see where he might have thought that Thor wasn't ready to be king, but still. The Jotuns had killed two guards and could have killed so many more if they had actually returned the Casket of Ancient Winters to Jotunheim. All of which was…

His thoughts kept shying away as his crimes multipled until_ 'beyond bad_' was all his troubled, jumbled thoughts could come up with.

Sending the Destroyer to Midgard after Thor? Assassinating the Jotun king and destabilized that already fractious realm and then trying to destroy the entire realm? How in the Nine could he have thought that any of that was a good idea?

Curling in on himself, Loki knew he had deserved being blown off the bridge and into the void by the blast of the Bi-Frost's destruction.

"We don't know why Loki," Thor told him in what ended up being an ongoing theme of this evening recital. He felt Stark shifting uneasily beside him. Glancing over towards the mortal, Loki noticed the tight muscles around the engineer's eyes and the small twitch at the base of his jaw. Stark caught his eye and shook his head minutely. Indicating that this was clearly not the time to delve further into what Stark did or didn't know.

Loki was very glad that he had the foresight to ask Stark to record at least the audio for him. Something was very wrong, but he just couldn't focus through the pain of his head and back and Eir's Thrall Relaxant he was missing a lot. It wasn't so much that Odin, Thor and Frigga were lying, Loki could always spot those immediately. However there were things that were not said, or perhaps said with an emphasis that shouldn't necessarily have been there.

_Using the Bi-Frost as a weapon?_

But that of course was not the end of it. Oh no, not with his luck. Thor looked pale as he recounted his tale of Loki's invasion of New York. Loki had to swallow rather desperately several times as his entire body tried to turn itself inside out. Mother sitting beside him, had her arm twined with his and had taken his right hand onto her lap stroking it softly to calm him. The first time he had gagged Stark had leapt up and poured him a goblet of water from one of the metal pitchers sitting on the sideboard and grabbed him a soft cloth napkin.

Odin just watched him, no doubt disgusted with Loki's show of weakness. But when he looked up from the ornately figured knot work rug that bounded the furniture group they were occupying something in his father's perfectly composed face struck him as off, and caused some of his jumbled thoughts to fall into at least a semblance of order. Something was missing, maybe several something's, but one at least was required instant clarification.

"Why would the Chitauri give me an army?" he asked Odin, interrupting Thor who was currently droning on about some kind of circular container that had fallen out of Midgard's flying fortress.

"We don't know." Odin said, almost placidly.

"What explanation did I provide at my trial," he asked faintly, somehow knowing he was not going to like the answer.

"You didn't." Odin told him, still calm and composed, not upset or annoyed at this reminder of defiance on Loki's part.

Fortunately Thor did not have the ability to remain so composed.

"Thor, what exactly did you say at my trial?" he asked as his mother hugged him a bit tighter and he felt Stark shift uneasily.

Thor just looked at him, almost panicked his eyes slid over towards Odin, who refused to meet his eldest son's gaze.

There had been no trial? Surely that couldn't be. But his heart, which was trying to pound its way out of his chest told him that it most certainly could be.

"There was no trial was there?" He hissed. "You condemned me summarily without a trial didn't you." When Odin didn't answer he tried to leap to his feet in agitation, but both his mother and Stark were holding him down. "Didn't you!" He screamed, "Did you even privately question me before you erased my memory?"

Odin didn't respond or change his expression.

"Let go of me," he snarled at Stark who had a firm grip on his arm and was trying to drag him back down. Stark ignored him, holding him down as best he could. Loki could barely hear his mother trying to calm him as he struggled against her grip also.

Furious and breathless, head pounding sickly Loki glared at Odin. "What did I ever do to deserve such treatment at your hands Father, how have I sinned against you to deserve this?"

"Loki-"

"Quiet Thor," he spat swinging his body towards the thunder god as much as he could with Frigga and Tony hanging on to him. "Unless you know why the lowliest thrall in Asgard is allowed a trial no matter how heinous their crime but I am not, I don't want to hear from you."

"He rounded angrily on Tony, "Did they or did they not agree to tell me what happened as part of the consort agreement?" Loki hissed, again trying to wrench his forearm out of Tony's grip.

"You know, they did," Tony said. "And just the stuff I know about, your pop is skipping big parts of, but I had no idea that you hadn't even had a trial." He turned and glowered at Odin, "Why didn't you even question him about the how he ended up with a Chitauri army? Don't you think it might be important?"

Odin's eyes flashed at the mortal's disrespectful tone. "It is not for you to question me Anthony Stark. Once Heimdall alerted me that Loki had appeared on earth I did not leave Hliðskjálf for a second. From my throne I saw everything that Loki did. There was no need to allow someone with Loki's talents of twisting speech, to subject myself or the court to his explanation of why black was white." Odin declared his speech as sharp and final as one of Thor's thunder claps. Loki was livid.

_Apparently defending yourself was considered 'twisting speech' if you were a second prince. _

"If I was truly trying to take over Midgard don't you think I would have shrouded my actions from your sight!" he spat, wrenching his hand away from his mother's grip. "I've been hiding myself quite successfully from you and Heimdall for years. Why wouldn't I do it if I was invading another realm? Did you even think to ask yourself that? Why wouldn't you ask me?"

"So do you know why the Chitauri gave him an army or don't you?" Tony growled, shifting the hand that had been around Loki's arm to his lower back and using his left hand to grip Loki's forearm.

"Stop that!" Tony admonished sharply as a snarling Loki tried to pull away from his grip. He maintained eye contact with Odin waiting impatiently for his answer.

Odin answered. "Loki has always had a gift for convincing people to give him what he wants."

"So while the Chitauri were giving him all this stuff, did you at least find out how they also gave him blue eyes?" Tony asked apparently disgusted with the amount of important data that the Asgardian King was apparently willing to fritter away.

Tony looked at him and then slid his glance past a horrified and upset Frigga before landing on Thor. "Thor… buddy… I know you are not the sharpest sword in the Asgardian Armoury, but you did notice that your brother was sporting bright blue peepers during the invasion didn't you?"

Loki was confused, his eyes had always been green, but when he looked at Thor for an explanation, his brother sat there looking strangely stuffed… and shamefaced.

"You know Thor, like how Clint's hazel eyes turned a bright Tesseract blue?" Tony asked enunciating slowly like he was speaking to someone who was terminally slow-of-thought.

When no one answered him Tony's shoulders sagged and he said with a heartfelt groan. "You people are a chief prosecutor's worse nightmare, you know that right?"

After a few moments of sitting in silence Tony spoke up again. "Look, just tell him the rest, let's get it over with."

"The… rest? What else did I do?" Loki asked hesitantly. Before this evening, he had been aware in the sketchiest way that he had seriously fought Thor, somehow been responsible for the destruction of the BiFrost and fought against the Avengers for some reason. And while he now knew much more about those actions, the nature of that information was frankly disappointing, and he was heartsick that he would never know why he did those things. Horrible yes, but surely he had once had some reason to think those actions might be correct.

_But what if I didn't? What if I am just some ungrateful, unfeeling psychopath, with no empathy or remorse? What if I had to be so reduced just to keep the rest of Asgard safe._ Loki shivered. _The rest? Did Odin rip my memory out because I had done even more heinous deeds? What else did I do? _

Loki could feel the occasional fine tremor running down his body. He was aware that his mother was stroking his hair back and pressing soft kisses on his cheek.

Odin sighed. "Loki, you are our son, and we love you dearly despite your recent actions, however we are not your birth parents, you were adopted."

"No."

A cold burning weight settled itself over his chest.

His mother touched his chin, trying to get him to turn and look at her. He jerked his face away from her.

_Not his mother._

Frigga and Odin were not his parents. Thor was not his brother? He was not a prince? Not even a fallen one?

"Adopted?" he stared blindly at Odin, not even caring if his voice cracked.

Everyone in the room should be able to hear his heart pound. Each beat hard and hurtful keeping pace with the pounding in his temples.

"How?" he croaked in a pathetic plea for answers that would make sense. Vaguely aware of the distressed noises that Pepper was making.

"I found you alone and crying in an icy temple after the final battle of Jotunheim." Odin said quietly.

"Who would take a baby into battle on another realm?" he asked, confused. He knew he wasn't thinking anywhere near as clearly as he normally did, but that just didn't make sense. There was no way it could make sense.

Loki felt sick. Feeling and reason tangled and echoing, questions crashing in his mind like icy waves, washing over rational thought, leaving him gasping for air as his body tried to cope with the attack on his mind.

_Adopted. Oh Yggdrasil, that would explain so much. _

Loki would give anything to just be somewhere alone to cry and scream and… just somewhere private, even for just a few minutes.

Head hung low, he flicked his eyes over towards Thor. So many times he wonder why Odin over looked him for his brother. So many times he wondered why his appearance didn't match the rest of his family. Well if they weren't really his family it all made sense. How could he have missed it? He felt sick at his own stupidity. Centuries of clues and he missed every one of them. And he had called Thor stupid.

A bitter laugh broke from his lips before he strangled it.

His laugh was not the only thing that was strangling. It was no wonder he was having trouble breathing, you can't breathe when you are drowning in your own stupidity. Stark was tugging at him, trying to get his attention, speaking, saying something, but it wasn't important so Loki ignored him.

"My son, you were not born in Asgard."

Loki's brows furled, and he looked overwhelmed. "None of the-"

"I found you on Jotunheim my son, alone, dying, exposed to the cold. You were far too small for a Frost Giant, I felt sorry for you, so I brought you home to your mother."

"You are my son, darling." The woman beside him murmured, brushing his hair with her hand.

"I'm a…" Loki struggled, unable to finish the sentence. He swallowed hard and tried again. "I'm a Jotun?"

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tony nodding, but the mortal didn't appear to be repulsed at sitting beside someone who might be a Jotun. Tony just looked tired and sad. Tony felt pity for Loki. Of all the things he never wanted… betrayal and pity. He had them both in abundance.

A Jotun? That was not the least bit possible. Jotun's are ten foot tall, with red eyes, black nails and blue skin. He held out his hands, examining them closely, even though they were the same hands he has had for the last thousand years. His skin is definitely not blue.

A thought slithered into his mind, winding around doubt and squeezing through cracks in certain knowledge. It was a brightly colored thought, because nature always makes sure its more venomous creatures are well marked.

No.

His skin is not Jotun blue. However his skin is also not the color of a sun kissed Æsir either. Dismayed, Loki drew a length of hair through his fingers, holding it in front of him and he studied it intently. His hair is not Æsir blonde or red or even the less common sandy brown. No. His hair is black, not even dark brown or brown black, but true black, almost one might say…. A blue black.

Loki's mouth opened, but someone else used it to speak. "The king of Asgard found an unknown Frost Giant child abandoned in a Jotun temple after the final battle and brought it home with him to raise as his son?" he asked quietly, looking up from the hair he had been rolling between his fingers.

"Yes."

"For no reason other than pity?"

"Yes."

Ignoring her soft cry of pain, Loki pulled away from the woman petting his hair. "You obviously believe me to be stupid." He growled menacingly, feeling the mortal stiffen on one side of him and the woman start to shake on the other. "Don't you?" he said with quiet menace.

"No my son."

"Oh yes you do. I am not the son of Odin, but you know whose son I am don't you?"

"Loki, you were an abandoned babe, there is no way to know who left you there.

"Liar!" Loki hissed, feeling his features twisting into a fierce grimace. "You would not drag a foundling brat home to raise as your own if I was an merely an insignificant by-blow of a foreign race. Whose child am I? Are my parents even dead? Was I a hostage to someone good behavior perhaps?"

"No, you were never a hostage, your parents are dead." Odin refused to look away, keeping his regard locked on Loki.

"Did you notice how they got you to sign the agreement, _before_; before they let you know I was a nobody, a nothing?" He asked Tony with bitter snarl, not taking his scornful eyes off of Odin. "The so honorable King of Asgard pawning off his tawdry wares to an unsuspecting mortal. Disgusting." Loki was practically spitting with rage. "That what you meant about my natural form isn't it. Because I'm a freak like all the other monsters on Jotunheim, aren't I?"

"Loki!" Thor protested slamming his clenched fist down on his thigh, "Father would not do such a thing, and you are not…"

"Shut! Up! Thor!" Loki punctuated each shouted word, while struggling with the mortal clinging to him before abandoning his attempt to get loose and just dragging Stark up with him. Standing in front of the couch, he had more room to move. He finally twisted loose and was able to push Stark away, leaving the man to stumble and almost fall on top a vacant armchair on the far side of the grouping.

"Shut up! Shut up! **_Shut up_**!"

Thor, standing beside Odin allowed his eyes to uneasily travelfrom Odin to Loki, Pepper slid out of her chair and backed towards the door.

"If you know that my parents are dead, then you must know who they were." Loki gave Odin an insolent, darkly cheeky, toothy smile, his eyes twinkling with insanity and his head tilted just a bit in inquiry. "Tell me Odin-King…" His voice was brittle, breathless and rigidly polite, "Please do tell me… Were they dead when you stole me from the temple?"

Loki paused dramatically, and everyone in the room flinched away from this new Loki. He waved his hands in a gracefully negative motion, continuing with manic cheerfulness and a wide open grin that was woefully out of place on his tight anger coiled body. "Oh pardon me, what _AM_ I saying… Not stole… Oh, no, no, no, no. Rather when you lovingly adopted an innocent babe..."

"No." Loki frowned theatrically, crossing his arms and tapping his lower lip thoughtfully with one long forefinger brows lowered.

"Hmmm, not a babe either. Ah..." He spread his arms wide, palms and gaze raised ecstatically towards the ceiling. "When you _lovingly_ adopted a twisted monster from a degenerate race of savage animals."

"Loki," Odin growled warningly.

"When you brought **_that_** back with you to Asgard," The younger god spat, eyes glittering with unshed tears glared at Odin. "Were those that **_spawned_** it still alive?" He demanded.

Odin regarded him serenely.

"Loki darling, please…"

"Tell Me!" he screamed, darting forward, palms snapping down to grab the padded arms either side of the chair that Odin was sitting in, leaning nose to nose in Odin's face.

Thor started, but stopped at a growl from Loki and a small hand wave from Odin.

He felt Starks arm's wrapping around his waist pulling back on him. "Rock of Ages you need to calm the fuck down. Not that I don't sympathize with you wanting to scream at Richard III and all, but you really need to chill, all this angst is not good for your mortal body, fuck if I can figure out how you survived it even-"

"My son, perhaps we should finish discussing this later when you have had time to consider it." Odin said soothing, riding right over Tony's comment.

"I am _NOT_ your son. Tell me now old man," Loki growled. "Whose child did you steal from Jotunheim?"

Odin's expression never changed.

"TELL ME!" Loki screamed once more, a tear finally spilling over to run down his face.

"Laufey." Odin said with a sigh. "You are Laufey's son. You bear his marks. I know them well."

OoooO

Tony wasn't exactly sure what it was about Laufey that upset Loki so much, but he had to admit the name was doing an excellent job at it. Fortunately Loki only had mortal strength; unfortunately in his rage he was still too much for even extremist enhanced Tony to hold. It wasn't that Tony was totally inexperienced; hell he worked out several times a week. However despite Steve's best efforts over the years, Tony did not have a couple of centuries of experience at hand to hand combat, nor did he ever train as a contortionist, acrobat or a ninja.

_Loki apparently had. _

Tony's sole contribution to keeping Loki from killing Odin was to trip him up, causing the both of them to fall sideways, with Tony landing on top of Loki. Momentarily, at any rate. Screaming what were obviously Asgardian obscenities, Loki eeled out from under him stumbling towards the sideboard.

Thor had several eventful moments deflecting heavy metal jugs, stoneware goblets and a large metal tray that Loki frisbee'd at the All Father with frantic energy. Loki may not have had his godly strength anymore but the force of the frisbee'd tray managed still made Thor shout when it hit his vambrace.

Frigga had thrown herself flat on the couch, out of the line of fire; Pepper stopped the guards from entering to find out what the ruckus was about, slamming the door shut at Tony's shouted command.

"Loki, stop this at once," Odin commanded over Thor's and Loki's shouts.

"You lying deceitful bastard!" the youngest god shouted, tears now streaming down his face. Wrenching open a drawer of the sideboard he looked for something else to throw. "All those years I tried to be a good son to you! All the shit I have had to put up with from the court doing your dirty work!" Spinning back around Loki held a small knife by its blade.

"You. Lied. To. Me." Loki screamed lifting the knife into position, face purple with rage, pupils so large his eyes appeared black.

"I was never your son, I was a hostage!"

Tony, tried to grab Loki's arm, but it was yanked up out of his reach before Loki's elbow descended with speed and force, hitting the engineer so hard he slammed backwards into a mother big candle holder that was taller than he was. Fortunately the heavy metal holder hit the floor before Tony did.

The thrown knife embedded itself into the back of Odin's chair, Thor having apparently realized what his brother had been hunting for in the side board and snatching the king out of harm's just in time.

"Enough!" Roared Odin.

Glowing gold bindings snaked around Loki's ankles and wrists, his momentum tripping him forward as the bindings restricted movement of his legs. "Loki, this is enough!" Odin repeated huffily, smoothing out his clothing, looking down on his struggling younger son.

Frigga was down on her knees, using her sleeve to wipe a smear of blood off Loki's lip, where it had dripped down from his bleeding nose. "Please calm yourself darling."

"And you." He hissed, pulling away from her hands and struggling to get onto his knees. "I thought you loved me. If no one else did, I was sure you loved me."

"Of course-"

"You lied! You claim to love me and you let my whole life be a lie! You are both filthy, dirty-"

Tony yanked Loki backwards by his hair, clamping a hand tightly over his mouth. "And that is about enough of that." he gasped out of breath, but as conversationally as he could.

"Thor, a little help over here please?" Tony requested as he scooted his back up against the sofa, releasing Loki's hair and using that arm to haul the struggling bound god to his chest. Loki slammed his head backwards, but he was off center enough that it didn't impact with Tony's face. His shoulder however was another story.

"Stop that." He hissed softly in the god's ear. "You are in so much shit right now that you just need to stop."

"Just hold him in place a minute will you?" Tony asked the large blonde.

Waiting until Thor had a firm grip on Loki's forearms; Tony switched his other hand to cover Loki's mouth before digging in his pants pocket. It took a couple of tries but he was finally able to extract a small vial from his pants pocket.

Seeing the vial as Tony held it towards Frigga to unscrew the stopper, Loki tried twisting away, but Thor's grip was too strong for him and Tony kept his hand tightly over his mouth so whatever he was screaming only came out as a garbled mess.

The look Loki shot Tony was like to break the engineer's heart. It was plain that the god thought that Tony had now betrayed him too by helping them. Loki was screaming and thrashing as they held him down. Every ounce of pain, every wish for vengeance, every bit of frustration as fifteen years of twisted missing pieces and a millennium of lies before that translated into increasingly frantic attempt to twist free of the bonds and hands holding him.

"I was afraid of this, Tony said hanging on the bucking, thrashing god. "Thor hold him down tight him a minute for me." Loki had screamed into Tony's palm. Timing it just so, Tony moved his hand, just as Loki was drawing in another breath, tipped the contents into the Trickster's open mouth before dropping the vial. Before Loki could spit, he forced his mouth closed and used his now free hand to clamp his nose shut. "Don't you dare try to spit that out. Okay…."

And now had a mouthful of potion and no air, worse Tony's hand grabbed his injured nose closing off that avenue for breathing. Loki had no choice but to swallow so he could breathe in much needed air through his mouth.

"Okay, you got anything else?" Tony demanded releasing his hold on Loki's nose so that hand could join in the effort of keeping his yelling muffled too much to be understood.

"Loki doesn't have a secret twin sister somewhere in court he's been unknowingly swapping spit with does he?" Tony called out sarcastically. "No? Nothing like that? Well thank god." At Odin affronted look he elaborated, "Not you, the big one."

"Brother please…" Thor said, not the least bit helpfully since the sound of Thor's voice saying the word brother enraged Loki even more.

As witnessed by his doubling up his leg and kicking Thor in the chest. However his strength had never been a match for Thor's and it was even worse now that he was mortal. Thor rocked back from the blow uninjured.

"It was fortunate Tony that you had a draught on you just in case Loki became-"

"Became what Thor?" The engineer snapped. "High strung?" Thor just nodded. "Seriously? Think a minute dude. Do you honestly think the guy is the way he is because he's high maintenance? You don't think maybe it's because Asgard's fucked over his whole life?

OoooO

"You… calm down." Tony bumped Loki's side with a knee for emphasis. Loki stopped trying to bore holes into Thor with his eyes and turned his laser glare sideways trying to see if he could kill Tony with a look. It was a valiant attempt at murder, but thankfully even when the god's powers were at full power, that hadn't been one of Loki's talents.

"You have every right to be excited about this, but right now you need to calm the fuck down." Not releasing his hold on the Trickster's mouth, Tony's own head dropped forward onto Loki's shoulder with a sigh, before he lifted it and nudged the side of Loki's head.

"You got any more questions?" Loki obviously unable to enunciate past the hand clamped tightly over his mouth just went rigid. "Or maybe you can get a rain check on them, since you aren't thinking real clear right now? Would that be okay?" That earned Tony a slight narrowing of his eyes, which Tony was going to take as assent whether it was or wasn't.

Turning his attention away from Loki and towards Odin, Tony asked, "You down with that your kingness? He can submit questions to you later after he's calmed his shit down?"

Odin's gave them a slow nod, clearly not used to Midgardians and Jotun adoptees having fits in his front parlor or whatever this room was called in fairyland.

"So now I am going to take Flawed Design here to Midgard and get a couple of healers who use something besides cat nip to look at him." He gave Loki a shake and Odin a hard look. "I think some of this… evening… might be due to a fairly common mortal medical condition." He gave Odin a grim dead eyed smile. "But I'm pretty sure most of it was you."

Ah, well that helped dent that stoic, _'I Am All Wise'_ look off Odin's face. "I'm also going to call for a quick medical consult. Since Lo here has been good and thoroughly mind fucked this evening I'll get a shrink recommendation too."

It wasn't but another few seconds before Loki's eyes were drooping a bit, and Tony could feel his heart rate slowing. Frigga tugged Thor out of the way after Tony nodded it was okay for him to let go.

Kneeling beside her son with some of the cloth napkins from the sideboard, the queen dabbed Loki's face as much as she could with him trying to turn it away from her.

"Loki will be taken to the healer's hall; he is not permitted off Asgard until after the binding ceremony." Odin told Tony, motioning Thor to help get his brother off the floor as the gold bindings dissolved into nothingness.

"Pepper!" Tony called loudly, refusing to let Thor move the god of mischief. "Can you be quiet?" He asked nudging Loki with his nose.

Loki flicked him a sidelong stare, most of its power lost as he was having a hard time focusing.

Tony hissed in his ear, hoping his voice was low enough to escape being over heard by the elder god glaring at them. "Seriously, Rudolf, you need to keep your damn mouth shut until we get off this fucking planet and safely home. Can you do that?"

After an angry huff and a begrudging nod of assent, Tony took his hands away from Loki's mouth and let Thor help them up to the couch. He accepted the napkin that Frigga handed him, wiping the blood off of his hands. Loki was rigid under her ministration, but other than averting his face he didn't say anything as she tried to clean the blood from his face.

"You're helping them." He hissed at Tony with narrowed eyes.

"No, I'm helping you not to get in anymore trouble that you already are. Now zip it."

"Pep, do me a favor and explain to the All King about how the paragraph detailing the care and feeding of magical creatures allows me to take this one home for a few days even if the binding party hasn't happened yet." Loki tch'ed sullenly at the Harry Potter reference but just sat dividing his glaring time equally between Frigga and Odin.

"Well, Mister Stark is essentially correct your majesty. As of the signing of the contracts he has full responsibility and control over the treatment of any illness his spouse is suffering. As your logmar explained several times, the contract signing is when legal rights and responsibilities begin; the ceremony is just a public notification and celebration."

Odin, looked at her steadily, but did not indicate dissent.

"But I am sure that Mister Stark will waive that right if you would like to return Loki's immortal strength and healing powers to him right now."Pepper quirked an inquiring eyebrow at the unmoving Odin.

"No? In that case Tony and Loki can properly seek what care they deem medically necessary. And since mortal medical care for stress related illnesses clearly not readily available here on Asgard, he will have to return to Earth for it where he already has two doctors familiar with his now mortal health issues."

Frigga was whispering something to Loki, but it was too low to Tony to hear. Thor was jiggling back and forth like a kindergarten that needed a potty break and Odin was thoughtfully regarding Tony. But since he hadn't started yelling or calling guards, Tony decided to do a salesman's close and head back to Earthgard.

"Hey Thor, could you please come with us at least as far as Big Fancy Sword Dude?" Tony asked. While Tony was pretty sure Reindeer Games was going down for the count soon, he might possibly catch an adrenaline spike of some sort and get… fussy. Tony doesn't want Loki's bodyguards having to subdue him. Once was more than enough of that, the engineer not wanting to set any bad precedents for such physical manhandling to be a go-to response for them.

"Come on Pep, it's been a long day and we still have a long way to go. A really long way. Your Majesty," Tony nodded at Frigga, "If you could send me a letter with the details telling me who, what, where, when and how on the rest of this production, I'd really appreciate it."

"Come on buddy," Tony said hauling a glaring Loki up.

The god was unresisting, but he swayed toward Tony, ducking his head a bit and whispering harshly in his ear, "I'm going to kill you the first chance I get."

"Yeah, let's talk about that later, okay?" Tony said dismissively, urging him towards the door and smiling at the 'rents. "Now say bye-bye to mom and dad and we'll be heading home for a bit. I'll try to have him back to you in a few days…. Doctor's orders permitting."

Just as Loki passed him, Odin put out a hand stopping Tony, "Thor, please assist your brother and Lady Pepper to Heimdall. Starkson, I would have words with you, please stay a moment."

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

As always comments and reviews are greatly appreciated.

**If you aren't a comment or review kind of person then Favs and Follows would be wonderful.**

They all help the story placement on the search engine. Many thanks to my faithful commenters and of course to all that have Fav'd and Followed in the past.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

Beta'd by the wonderful** Lavanyalabelle. **Many, many thanks for your assistance.

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**TRIGGER WARNINGS** – **TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS -TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS**

**This chapter will *contain* - involuntary drugging. **

**Please DO NOT READ if you will have issues with any of these items.**

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

I don't own the Avengers or Thor, they are the property of Marvel and Disney, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.


	7. Chapter 7 - Chatting with the FIL to be

**Chapter Summary** - Odin is not near as much fun to talk to as Loki is. At least in Tony's opinion... But he shed some light on exactly what the hey he was thinking when he agreed to this whole mess.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

Okay. Two things.

First I am looking for a few beta's who are good dealing with convoluted sentence structure. My two main betas are having academic meltdowns and have not much time for my silly shit. ;D Lavanyalabelle stepped in to help last chapter but I don't want to take too much advantage of her good nature and would like to spread some chapters around to others if possible. renne michaels take this out Hotmail dot com.

Second I may be a bit late on Chapter 8 as it is not even started. My interpersonal relationships have been more drama filled that even I can take so I am moving 1500 miles Monday morning to inflict myself on a sibling. As you might imagine, my concentration has been pretty crappy for about the last month. I do apologize, I will try to get it finished and beta'd as soon as I can. :(

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

**TRIGGER WARNINGS IN END NOTES PLEASE READ IF YOU MIGHT HAVE A PROMBLEM WITH CERTAIN SUBJECT MATTER. **

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

**Chapter 7 – Chatting with the FIL to be**

After having a hasty word with her husband and directing a tight, grimace-like smile at Tony, Frigga followed her sons out of the room, her rich robes vanishing as the she slammed the door behind her.

"So your majesty… Before you get started with what you want, I'd like to know just exactly what did did happen on the Rainbow Bridge that last night? Thor says he fell, Eir had hinted it might be more serious and you kind of skated over the whole thing."

Odin waved him towards the chair that Pepper had so recently vacated before reseating himself in his father-of-all-leather-wingbacks. Sitting painfully erect, making Tony wonder if the guy even knew how to slouch, Odin began to _'share'_.

"As both my sons hung over the end of the bridge, Loki pleaded with me for understanding." The elder god's face took on a distant look for the barest instant. "And to my great sorrow, I answered him with exactly the wrong words."

Lowering his head in a futile attempt to somewhat mask what a load of bull he thought this was, Tony glanced at the king from lowered brows wondering if those exact words were another thing his Odin-ness had been banking on the memory-wipe thing solving for him.

Odin's hand clenched briefly for a moment. "Loki told me, pleading for understanding that he killed Laufey and attacked Jotunheim for me, for all of us and that he could have done it." The older god took a deep breath before continuing. "Made us all safe I imagine. That's when I said something, that for all my supposed wisdom I should have known not to say. I told him 'No Loki'." His lone eye glanced tiredly up at Tony. "Would that any other words would have come out of my mouth but those."

If Odin was looking for sympathy, he was talking to the wrong billionaire. "You think?" Tony scoffed, not caring if his FIL was an all high magic king or not. "Your kid, who just found out he was adopted, off'ed his biological dad in some sort of harebrained scheme, which makes me wonder just a bit about his supposed genius by the way, to prove his loyalty to you. Then he somehow thought destroying the rest of his own race was what it would take to keep everyone he loved safe and make you proud." Tony didn't roll his eyes, but it was a close thing. Instead he snorted derisively, waving his hands theatrically.

"And after all that, _'No Loki'_ is what you came up with? Damn, I thought my dad was a thoughtless jerk."

As Pepper had often told him, he had no sense of self preservation,

Odin growled. "Yes, I have heard this argument before Anthony Stark, we need not go through it again."

"Yeah no." Tony retorted, ignoring the gathering storm on the King of Asgard's face. "I think maybe you should have to discuss it daily if that's what it takes to make your son understand that you are an idiot at times too. Like maybe let him know that making bad calls under stress kinda runs in the family or something."

Odin slumped even lower, "So his mother tells me. Repeatedly."

"Yeah and while you're at it, I've pumped Goldilocks for background info on O-Shining-Asgard almost since Mrs. O dropped baby boy in my lap all those years ago. Maybe you also need to discuss that whole setting a bad example thing. Like why it wasn't okay for Loki to do either of those things even though grandfather Borsh decimated one race and Daddy-kins subjugated another one. While I personally think not doing stuff like that is the way to go, I just have to mention that having double standards on this subject is kinda a dick move on your part."

"You don't understand-"

"Oh no. I understand just fine. Any idea how many people Thor killed on Jotunheim? Was it more than Loki did on earth? Or do those deaths not count because your adopted son's race aren't really considered people?"

Which Tony is pretty sure is the case._ And if that doesn't that just send Reindeer Games a lovely message I don't know what does._

"Which kind of makes me wonder what you consider the people of earth to be."

The engineer and the King of all Space Vikings studied each other for a long moment. Finally, realizing that he was not going to get an answer, and if he did it most likely wasn't going to be one he wanted to hear, Tony asked in his best pleasant, 'One hundred percent fake but not openly mocking' voice, "Please tell me you can smell the hypocrisy."

"I am not without understanding on that, but I would advise you to have a bit more care on how you speak to me of these matters," Odin intoned, regarding Tony with a narrowed eye. "And despite my failings as a parent, some of the wrongs Loki did would have resulted in immediate execution if I had not intervened."

"If that's the case then why didn't you let them put him up against the wall? Guilt? Because Thor only got a three day time out for his attempt to start a war? Or was it because the guy had mitigating circumstances out the wazoo when he threw his little temper tantrum?" Tony demanded, pretty sure that it was most likely a combination of the two with a heaping helping of 'don't you touch my baby' from Frigga.

"For all that it is seldom seen, Loki's anger is a thing to be feared Anthony Stark. Please be assured that I don't take it lightly." Odin sighed heavily as those two mother big black birds winged in from one of the adjoining rooms. "Not then, not now. How much or how little his rage had to do with what ultimately happened on Midgard it would be difficult to say for sure."

_Do ya think?_

"You know if you had left his memories alone, once he calmed down you might have been able to ask him." The engineer pointed out. While it was too early to start cataloging the various looks of irritation he got from the All-King, Tony was a bit surprised at the much more than slightly annoyed look he was getting. Hell, the guy had been brushing off everything he said all night and now he was getting a 'very vexed look'? How fair was that?

"Anthony Stark, while it might alleviate some of the issues we currently have to deal with, trust me when I tell you that Loki would _'never' _rest easy if certain of those memories had been retained."

Tony tries to ignore that little knot of panic that has decided to take up residence in his chest because this is a totally unsettling statement when he thinks of all the horrible stuff they '_were' _willing to admit to his godling.

"So. You didn't just remove those memories, you examined them didn't you?"

The All Father smirked. It wasn't a smirks destined to go down in a Hall of Fame anywhere, but it was a good serviceable one none the less. It had '_smug bastard'_ written all over it. Along with a touch of something darker that Tony just can't place.

"Asgard needs a healthy second prince whose interests are firmly tied to the realm. I grow old and tired Anthony Stark and must have him resettled and reformed in the eyes of the realms before Thor has need of him."

_Okay. _Tony had not seen that one coming.

"For his magic?"

Apparently not. For the record? Tony would like to have it noted that All Powerful Space Alien kings snort. Ruefully perhaps but that noise was still definitely a snort.

"No, although his skills there are quite formidable," Odin rubbed his forehead as if struck by a sudden pain. "In fact it would be so much easier for us all if they were not. However powerful his magic, it is his diplomatic and manipulative skills which are needed. And notwithstanding what he might say and recent events, Loki has always loved his brother." Odin inhaled deeply. "Indeed much of my hope hangs upon that affection, particularly now that he is feels that Frigga and I have betrayed him."

Tony waited in silence, curious to see what other insane hope his Odin-ness might be harboring. Privately? He thought the god was in for a really rude awakening.

It was several more moments before the elder god stirred. Odin's face creased as he gifted Tony with a regretful smile. "In all honestly, I foresee difficult decades ahead. Loki's ability to exasperate without bringing wrath down upon his own head is legendary in the realms."

_Heh. _

"Well you did dub him the God of Mischief." Tony offered not really feeling too sympathetic.

"Indeed," Odin said with the smallest glint of humor finally making it to his pale blue eye, "I only did so because his mother would not allow me to name him the God of Irritation or Annoyance."

_Yeah, that would have went over like a brick balloon_, Tony thought as Odin continued his voice sounding more and more tired and resigned. As if he was repeating old arguments for the umpteenth time.

"Loki needs to be settled. He is too powerful a mage to be allowed to remain unaligned. Besides Asgard in general and the royal family in particular, need children of talent, children who can assist not only in the defense of Asgard but also whole of the Nine Realms. The gift runs weak in Thor, and Gungnir can only provide so much power. Should Thor persist in choosing that mortal woman as his queen, there will be little chance that his children would be born with any mage talent at all."

_Okay. _ Not really something that Tony was expecting, but he guessed it made sense. From years of discussing it with Loki he knew that Mage work apparently was not highly regarded among males in Asgard. Your run of the mill Asgard male was also a bit leery about joining with the more powerful female practitioners of the arts, talented females apparently put up with much less shit than their un-talented sisters. Most males with talent left for less ass-hole-ish realms, taking their potential for kids with them. This left Asgard with a bit of a magical brain-drain problem that Odin apparently intended to fill from the top down.

"Well you and Frigga are both wizards; perhaps it just skipped a generation."

Pausing for a moment, the merest flicker of time, a one hundred percent certain Odin replied, "No. Unless Thor marries someone skilled in the arts his children will not be talented. One of the reasons I allowed Loki to be joined to your house is that you have a bit of talent about you even though you are Midgardian. Also, despite your less than winning personality you have a great intelligence. If your children inherit even a fraction of Loki's talent and your intelligence the combination will be, as you yourself have said, formidable."

Which was nothing that Tony didn't already know. Hell, any kid he had was bound to be at least scary smart, add Loki into the mix and who knows, they could easily out god the gods. Not that he intended to have kids anytime soon, even if Loki's babe persona **_was_** smoking hot.

"So those other women you tried to marry him off to were talented?"

"Not particularly, although some minor talent does run in their family."

"Geniuses?"

Odin huffed. "No. Definitely not."

"Then why them?"

"The quantity of grandchildren I could have expected from such a union would have allowed natural selection many, many opportunities." Odin smiled sourly, "And even those who did not manifest power in this generation might pass the seeds of it to the next."

_Okay_.

"Loki did say something about them being from fertile families," Tony admitted, although privately he had a hard time imagining the Trickster going along with the baby-mill plan to re-establish the Mage pool in Asgard.

"Indeed. Almost abnormally so for the Æsir. I was banking on multiple children to swing the odds of having a really talented one or two being born. Especially since bearing young seems to be a competitive sport in their family." Odin apparently decided to ignore the face that Tony made, which had been of course complete with Tony's very own brand of modified eye roll.

"So what's the other reason?" He asked, trying not to let his impatience to get going show.

Odin just looked at him. Chin raised, face all impassive and kingly. Tony could see where having a father like Odin might have driven the god of fruit loops completely around the bend.

"You said '_one of the reasons'_ so there must be more."

Lifting his head imperiously Odin raised a brow, "Someday soon, you and I will sit down and discuss improvements to various defensive measures. I have seen that you are quite clever in that area." Cue one wintery little '_Odin-smile'_ before the All Father's voice deepened and got totally _'kingly'_. "While I live, he is shielded, but when I pass, Loki's whereabouts could become known to someone who wishes him great harm. Now I cannot say for sure they will still be looking for him at that time, but it is possible. The entities Loki met in the void are very patient."

OoooO

Having confirmed stuff that Tony had already suspected about the 'fell vs let go' version of the Rainbow Bridge story. His Odin-ness concluded their chat with a quick explanation of how unhappy he was that Loki was leaving Viking land and how displeased he would be if Loki was gone for more than a few days. Not that having the let go part confirmed made the inventor happy, but at least now he and his godling's '_shrink-to-be'_ wouldn't be blindsided by that aspect of Loki's mental makeup.

So except for that vague spooky '_Entity in the Void'_ thing, which Tony made a mental note to try to weasel a bit more info on from Misses Odin, the whole convo had gone pretty much as Tony had expected. It was about an hour before Tony managed to escape Odin and his freaky birds. Well one of them anyhow.

The Realm Eternal, as Odin referred to it, seriously needed some sort of Bi-Frost shuttle service or something. All this walking was getting on Tony's last nerve, but apparently the only other remedy was worse. Tony was _not_ a fan of horses. So with an escort that included one of those damn birds and a couple of Odin's big scary guys, Tony made his way to the Heimdall's causeway. He arrived just as Pepper, Thor, a few of Frigga's guards and an obviously flagging Trickster god arrived there.

"Friend Tony, I have decided that I will see you all the way home," Thor informed him in his usual just twenty-five percent over normal speech levels. Thor's large hand was wrapped around the bicep of a slumping trickster god as he stood there smiling at Tony, completely ignoring the low level growl that his comment provoked from Loki.

It turned out that Thor's idea of accompanying them home was a good one. Heimdall had no sooner disappeared back to Viking Land then Loki's energy levels hit the wall and he collapsed halfway to the terrace doors. Thankfully Thor was there. The big guy picked his brother up as easily as if he were carrying a kid. Freed from having to suit up to get Loki installed in the guest room that used to be his, Tony followed along behind them.

"Thor, are you staying the night?" Pepper asked as they entered the penthouse.

"Sadly no, Lady Pepper. As soon as I have seen Loki safely into bed, I have to return. I have no doubt my father will wish to speak to me."

"Fine. Tony, I'm exhausted. Since Thor isn't going to use it, I'm going to bed down in the main suite on the guest floor. I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"Ms. Potts would you like me to have one of your assistants stop and pick up fresh clothing from your apartment for when you awake." Jarvis inquired.

"Don't bother them Jarvis, I have a few outfits stashed in the closet of my office, just have someone pick one up and put it in the entry hall for me. Oh, and please leave a message for my assistants that I'll see them tomorrow at ten to go over anything I missed. 'Night guys," she yawned, waving as she ducked into the elevator heading down to the main apartment on the guest floor.

It only took a few minutes for Thor and Tony to manhandle the younger god out of his outer clothes and under the covers. Patting the sleeping Trickster's arm absently, an exhausted Tony walked Thor back out and waited just inside the terrace until Heimdall retrieved him. The walk back to his own room seemed to take forever and Tony was asleep almost before his head hit the pillows.

OoooO

Having decided to work in the living room rather than head down to his lab, Tony was able to quickly nip into the Loki's room as soon as Jarvis told him he was waking up.

"Hey Lo. Welcome back to the land of the living." Tony said leaning against the doorframe watching with interest as his long legged Norse god clawed his way back to wakefulness.

"Stark?" Loki asked, looking around in confusion pushing the brown and cream comforter aside still not fully awake. "Midgard?"

Tony smiled. "Ummm… Yeah. Me. Midgard. You've been sleeping for… How long Jarvis?"

"You've slept for thirteen hours and twenty-two minutes Mister Odinson." "Jarvis told him.

"Hel," Loki groaned. Clutching his head, he got up, stumbling into the bathroom with all the grace of a newborn foal.

"So. Jarvis. Get everyone on the horn and see what kind of schedule we can work out with Bruce, Vaslin, Rozmon and Schafer? Hey that sounds like a law firm doesn't it?"

"Indeed Sir. Shall I get Doctor Banner and Vaslin set up for this afternoon and try for early tomorrow with Doctors Rozmon and Schafer?"

"Yeah, that will be fine." Tony said absently, head bent over his tablet, weeding out his always over-flowing inbox. After a perhaps fifteen minutes he frowned, lifting his head up to look at the bathroom door. "Did he die in there Jay?"

"No Sir." His AI replied with amusement. "He is currently taking a shower."

"Oh." The tip of Tony's tongue stuck out a moment in thought, and then he shrugged and stood up. "Okay," His attention already returning to the tablet in his hand Tony wandered back out into the living room to wait for Loki there.

OoooO

"Mister Odinson will be out in a moment sir."

"Cool. Thanks Jarvis." Tony put down his tablet on the couch beside him and stretched his arms a moment. Tony's favorite brown Black Sabbath shirt rode up a bit as he worked the stiffness out of his shoulders. Standing the engineer bounced a few times, rocking back and forth on his tennis shoes to loosen his leg muscles and let his t-shirt and jeans fall back into place.

Looking up as he heard Loki enter the room, Tony's breezy 'Hey Lo' trailed off as he took in the furious scowl directed his way.

"I'm going to guess that someone woke up in a grumpy mood. Yes?" Tony asked making a silly face, trying, not too successfully to lighten the mood. There was as yet no rain or lighting, but Tony could almost see the storm clouds that accompanied the god into the room.

"Sir, Doctor Banner just confirmed that he will meet Doctor Vaslin here at three this afternoon and they both have agreed to a consult with Doctors Rozmon and Schafer prior to their appointment with Mister Odinson tomorrow morning."

"Umm, Isn't that a bit long to keep Rudolf here fasting Jay?" Tony asked swivelling to look directly into one of Jarvis' cameras.

"I did mention it to Doctor Banner, but he has a scheduling meeting he can't miss, and Doctor Vaslin is not available any eariler but both doctors indicated that they could make it here by three at the latest." The Jarvis said apologetically. "Doctor Banner did suggest that you gather the samples yourself so the results would be ready by the time they arrived."

Sticking his lip out thoughtful, Tony nodded. "Okay, that's certainly do able."

"Making more plans for my future without consulting me Stark? Please tell me what you have planned next," Loki snapped, an irritable vision in tailored black slacks and a slim cut white dress shirt. "An appointment to have your name tattooed on my body? Or one to have me fitted with a collar and tag? Or both perhaps so every chance met idiot will know that ownership of my person has passed from Odin to you?"

_Okay. So his god was just a bit past the cranky stage. Like maybe a mile or two. _

"Well no. Errr… Not that those ideas aren't both very hot in a more than slightly demeaning way. But we did come down here to see about getting you a checkup."

"With four doctors? Is that not a little excessive for a few headaches?" asked Loki, more annoyed that the engineer really thought he had reason to be. Maybe it was different on Asgard, but here on Earth almost all of the damn doctors he knew traveled in flocks for Christ's sake. "Well, it might not be all headaches you know, that why we're here, to find out what's wrong."

Tony seriously considered putting off an explanation about Loki talking to the Shrinks until morning, but he figured maybe it was time to rip the bandage off. "And, the other two are not medical doctors. Umm, they're head doctors."

Loki stiffened, obviously confused for a moment, but still very irate.

"Head doctors?" Eye's narrowing; a muscle started jumping on the side of the god's clenched jaw. "Do you think me mad Stark?" he asked, his voice tight with anger.

_Yeah, that went about as well as expected_, Tony thought, trying to come up with a way to phrase his explanation that didn't cause the dark haired god in front of his to go ballistic. "Ah. No. Not really," But then before he could stop himself the rest just slipped out. "But you are kinda fucked up in the head. After what you've been through. Anyone would be." The noise that greeted that statement had more than a hint of growl in it.

"Okaaaay. I can see maybe grumpy is a bit of an understatement this morning." Tony said to the glowering god standing just inside the living room.

"How else would one be after being drugged not once but twice in one night and then waking up somewhere other than their own bed Stark?" Loki spat stalking into the living room. Tony can't decide if Loki's movements are more reminiscent of a prowling panther or some large snake. But while his forebrain is trying to work that puzzle, his hindbrain just wants to put some distance between him and the pissed off god. The engineer backed around the couch almost without conscious thought. His hindbrain having obviously won the survival versus curiosity argument is trying to get his body out of the danger no matter what his frontal lobes might have in mind.

"Look, can we just sit down so we can talk about whatever has you wound up? I'm sure together we can work out a fix for whatever it is that's bugging you." Hard green eyes locked on to this.

"Oh really?" Loki let out a sharp, almost bark like laugh that was totally at odds with his furious expression. "Like we worked it out together Asgard? Before I even saw you, you had a primary agreement with the queen and without any input from me; you came up with an agreement in principal with the king. I was handed said finished agreement to read and bless. There was no mutual '_working out'_ of anything that happened yesterday."

"Well, technically it was the day before yesterday." Tony corrected before his brain or sense of self-preservation could stop the words from flying out of his mouth. And because he obviously had a subconscious death wish, he couldn't help but add, "And besides, isn't asking the parents for permission the way you royals do it in Viking land anyhow?"

With one of those lighting fast freaking ninja moves of his, Loki leapt the gap separating them and backed Tony up until he was leaning painfully over the back of the couch. His toes barely touching the floor due to the awkward angle, he flailed a moment in an unsuccessful attempt to get his feet back on the ground.

_No joy there_. Tony then tried shifting a bit to relieve the general discomfort of being his back being hyper-extended but with all the weight from Loki doing almost a full body press he really couldn't move much.

"How does it feel Stark?" The god growled into his ear, causing a shiver composed of equal parts of desire and anxiety to thrill though Tony's body. "How does it feel not to be in control of what happens to you?"

"Sir?" Jarvis called out, alarm tinging his voice.

"I got it Jarvis."

"Are you sure Sir, I could call-"

"Mute Jarvis. I'm on top of it."

"Are you really Stark?" The god snarled, Loki's forearm, which had been pressing down on Tony's chest, slid up to apply a bit of pressure to his throat, the other gripping the hair at the back of Tony's skull, pulling his head back an angle. "Let's just see about that."

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

As always comments and reviews are greatly appreciated.

**If you aren't a comment or review kind of person then Favs and Follows would be wonderful.**

They all help the story placement on the search engine. Many thanks to my faithful commenters and of course to all that have Fav'd and Followed in the past.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

Beta'd by the wonderful** Mima Mia. **Many, many thanks for your assistance.

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**TRIGGER WARNINGS** – **TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS -TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS**

**This chapter will *mention* - involuntary drugging. **

**Please DO NOT READ if you will have issues with any of these items.**

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I don't own the Avengers or Thor, they are the property of Marvel and Disney, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.


	8. Chapter 8 - The Missing Years

**Chapter Summary** - The Missing Years. How Tony and Loki actually hooked back up... before it all went to hell in a hand basket.

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Okay... So a tiny bit of info repeated, since this is supposed to be a stand alone story. But not too much I hope.

This is NOT the chapter I planned to post next. However with all the crap I have been going through, I flat haven't been able to concentrate on writing for the last two weeks. I can't tell you how sorry I am about that. :( After I decided to post this flashback I got the bright idea to post it separately as a one shot. Then I remembered how well second guessing my self worked the last time I did it, so here it is in the main story as a flashback. Possibly not the smoothest transition but I did try.

(If you are curious about the whole drama thing, I'll post an update on tumblr as soon as I get this posted.** renne michaels dot tu mb lr)**

Parts of this chapter were beta'd by the ever so lovely** Mima Mia! **The parts with errors were checked by me and an online proofer.

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**TRIGGER WARNINGS IN END NOTES PLEASE READ IF YOU MIGHT HAVE A PROMBLEM WITH CERTAIN SUBJECT MATTER. **

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**Chapter 8 – The Missing Years **

As Loki's hand slid towards Stark's throat the thought angrily crossed his mind there had been a time when there was almost nothing he wanted more than to be reunited with this annoying mortal. And yet right at this moment there was nothing he wanted more than to kill the wretch and entomb his lifeless body in the smoking wreckage of the monument to overcompensation that was Stark Tower.

Digging his fingers into either side of Stark's throat, Loki demanded bitterly, "How in the Nine Realms did we end up like this?"

OoooO

Since there was no way of knowing when his mother would release him he'd left instructions to keep his workers busy for the rest of the day. He had come back to his room to wash and put on fresh garb. Prisoner or not, one did not visit the Queen of Asgard in creased dirty clothing. Adjusting the plain grey tunic Loki sighed at his reflection, this was a good as it was going to get he acknowledged. Twitching, one last time the cuffs that were beginning to get threadbare Loki turned away from the mirror, picked up a large sealed envelope as he exited his bedroom. He crossed his now empty living chamber in route to the door leading to the hallway. At his nod the warrior at the door opened it and stepped out after checking with his co-workers who had stood in the door way guarding his chambers. Loki followed him out as the exterior guards flanked him in a maneuver well-practiced by all of them.

As often happened, the guard's footsteps somehow became synced. The noise of their thudding steps bouncing off the marble walls, as it often happened, made his headache throb even more that it had all morning. Fortunately footsteps didn't echo across grass so relief from the lack of noise made it easier to compose a suitable face to show his mother. After a brief pause at the entrance to the Queen's Garden while two of the guards did a quick sweep of the immediate area. Returning, those two forward guards posted themselves outside the gate while their commander entered the garden behind Loki. Stopping a dozen yards away from Asgard's queen, the guard commander was close enough to see him but out of earshot.

The table set with only two visible place settings eased the younger god's tension even more than the respite from noise had. This was not to say that Odin or Thor might not drop in later, but only two place settings greatly reduced the chances of Loki having to deal with either of '_them'_ this afternoon.

"Good afternoon Mother," He said, tucking his envelope under one arm and holding out his hands, palms up. Frigga's face lit as it always did when he came to lunch and her eyes searched his face a moment before her shoulders slumped a bit.

"Good afternoon my son," she sighed, placing her hands atop his and drawing him immediately over to the table. "You're not eating again are you?"

He shrugged. As keyed up as he normally was, he ate very lightly at the morning and noon meal, only much as he could stomach without the risk of losing it later in the day. Usually the headache he had by the end of the day made eating his evening meal more a chore than anything else. Not that the food selection provided to the castles servants made that any easier. If Loki lived to be five thousand he didn't think he would ever be fond of the hearty, greasy fare that was normally provided for dinner to those without the rank to request something different. Seating himself as directed, he simply smiled and handed her the large envelope he'd brought with him.

Hefting the envelope a moment, Frigga she sat it on the table near her plate.

"I understand your father was out to examine the repairs the other day." Figga's voice, light and casual was totally at odds with the penetrating stare she fixed upon him. "I was very pleased to hear that there were no raised voices this time." She waved her hand and several servitors entered the garden bearing trays that Loki's exterior guards had already checked. They both waited until the platters had offered, selections served and then placed on a small side table in case either of them wanted more once the servitors had left.

Loki looked askance at his plate. The lightly grilled shellfish, chicken and sliced vegetables sitting on top delicately seasoned noodles were a favorite of his from his mother's home land, but the amount that he'd been served was far more than he could be comfortable eating these days.

You did see we some very lovely cherry tarts for dessert did you not?" Frigga said disingenuously. Pretending not to notice the look he was giving his plate.

Loki huffed glancing up at her from lowered brows, fighting to conceal the small smile trying to curl up the corners of his lips.

"Really Mother, Don't you think I'm a bit old for you to try to bribe me with dessert if I clean my plate."

"Nonsense," Frigga said airily arranging her russet gown with absent minded pats. "I am your mother. You will never be too old for me to bribe you into good behavior. Did I mention the tarts were wild cherry?"

Abandoning his attempts to restrain it, Loki allowed the corners of his mouth curl into a rueful smile while he twirled a few noodles on his fork and speared a bit of chicken. He still didn't completely raise his head but he did glance up through his lashes at his mother. "You know there will come a day when even a '_wild_' cherry tart doesn't work mother. What ever will you do then I wonder?"

I will think of something else my son. Never fear."

They ate in silence for a few minutes. Loki spent as much time rearranging his plate so it looked like he had eaten as he did eating.

"Getting back to your recent visitors," Frigga's voice and glance were both gentle and warm. "Thor was also quite pleased that you allowed him into your chambers to visit last week."

"Did he also fuss to you about having only the floor to sit on and a wall to lean against?" Loki asked for the sake of making conversation only, since what pleased or displeased Thor was of no real interest to him. There was now only one person in Asgard whose approval was even mildly important to him, and hadn't been Thor since shortly after they had left their tutors.

"Perhaps a bit," The Queen remarked with a tiny chuckle. "But in the main he was just happy to have spent the evening with you." She held his eyes for a long moment, amusement fading, her voice and expression becoming more serious. "Thor understands the heavy burden that you carry my son. He does not seek you out to hinder you or waste your time, but rather to try to get you to take a respite, however brief, so that you will not buckle under the weight of your duties."

If she noticed the sheen in his eyes at the thought that anyone would try to lighten, even momentarily, the crushing responsibility he dealt with daily, Frigga had the grace not to allow him to see it.

Remembrance of the nearly impossible job he had been tasked with curdled his appetite. Without conscious thought Loki laid his fork across his still half full plate and pushed it away, ignoring the slightly reproachful look this gained him. Better he should forfeit his tart, than become ignominiously sick in his mother's garden. Besides, he had already eaten more than he normally did anyhow. He glanced fleetingly towards his mother only to find her expression now more thoughtful than disapproving.

"I have been more than a little pleased that you have ceased arguing with your father or driving away your brother. I well know that you do not welcome your father's counsel or your brother's company." Her features tightened. "I do understand that you only tolerate them to please me, since their presence has not brought you true comfort for more than a century." Sighing, Frigga regarded him, pushing aside her own plate. "Perhaps, since your appetite has fled we have already passed time when even a wild cherry tart made a suitable bribe for you? I am not unmindful of the added strain that being civil to your father and brother has placed upon you. And much like your brother, I would like you to have at least a brief respite."

Watching him steadily, Frigga lifted the envelope he had given her when he arrived. "Would you perhaps like the opportunity to deliver this packet to Midgard yourself? Spend a few hours with your former Midgardian hosts?"

Were it not for the fact that it was Frigga speaking, Loki would have suspected that this offer was some sort of cruel jest. Still he wouldn't be himself if he didn't get in at least one jab, "Respite or substitute for a wild cherry tart mother?"

"Can't it be both?" She answered with a quiet smile.

Loki wondered if she could hear how loud his heart was beating despite his attempt to remain calm. "I suppose that depends what this offer truly is? I cannot accept of course unless I know what you would ask in return for your boon."

"I ask nothing except that you allow yourself to relax for the evening."

Frigga reached out her hand, offering him back his package. His immediate reaction was to instantly agree, snatch up the packet and go see Heimdall immediately. The chance to spend a few hours not being constantly watched and judged would be a balm in and of itself.

However lurking just at the edge of his mind was a niggling fear that perhaps his hastily acted upon plan to retain a secure refuge in case of future need had given Stark false expectations. It wasn't that Loki didn't like the mouthy little smith. He did. But while he had played with the man to the extent that it almost made him blush to think about in hindsight…. Loki had ruthlessly refused to entertain any thoughts about Stark in the way that the man had obviously hoped he would. While a trip to Midgard would be a balm for his spirits, how would Stark regard it?

"Loki."

Aware that he had gotten side tracked in his thinking, Loki shot a sidelong glance at Frigga, hoping that she wasn't aware of 'all' of his thoughts.

"My son. I am sure that Anthony would accept a visit from you as his friend."

Trying to keep his mother from divining his inner thoughts was very often an exercise in futility.

In the end Loki had decided to take his mother's assurance that he would be welcomed no matter what. She was after all the premier seer of Asgard. She might not discuss her foreknowledge, but going against her advice was foolish beyond permission. Loki had no doubt that she had looked ahead to his reception on Midgard before she extended her offer to him.

Frigga escorted him personally to Heimdall. "Enjoy your evening my son," She said, kissing him goodbye. Good Heimdall will return for you in six hours. I will be back here with your guards waiting for you when you return.

OoooO

"Holy shit!" Tony cried jumping over the back of the couch, "Buddy are you alright? What are you doing here?"

_When had Midgard become such a refuge?_ Loki wondered catching his lower lip in his teeth while leaning heavily against the now closed terrace door. The relief he felt at being here surely was completely out of proportion for the brief respite he'd been granted.

"Where's Pepper Tony? I can see it's late. Is she still in her office? I tried to time my visit so she would be, but it's not easy with the time differentials being so fluid." Loki asked trying to speak casually but almost overwhelmed by the need to see the fiery female who had been such a big help to him when he had first come to Stark Towers.

Loki _was_ devestated to hear that she was on the other side of the county.

Tony had just stood there watching him, a troubled look upon his face. Loki tugged one of the sleeves of his simple black tunic into place and brushed a hand down thigh of his dark charcoal slacks. Feeling woefully under dressed, as he always felt these days he ran a finger almost nervously over his wide black and green belt which was pretty much the only thing he owned these days that reflected his formerly colors.

"So… new look for you? Or have Asgardian fashions changed?" Tony asked, obviously referring to the lack of ornament or formality his clothing now reflected.

He could feel the blush rising in his face. "Ah, no," Loki lied, unwilling to admit that he was so shallow that dressing in the simple drab clothing of a servant bothered him. Willing his color down and adopting a small smile he elaborated, "I just find I have no patience for all the layers and stiffness anymore."

Looking up at the unconcerned, slightly smug mask that Loki had pulled over his tired features Tony racked his brain for something that would get rid of that damn '_you can't see me'_ mask that the god was again wearing.

"Hey!" Tony put an upbeat note in his voice, "I bet we could Skype Pepper in an hour or so when her meeting is done."

Frowning, Loki's brows drew together a moment, but then he felt a wide smile steal across his face as he remember how Midgardian used video conferencing. However much Loki would have liked to seen Pepper in person at least Stark proposal would allow him to talk to her and see how she fared now that she had become engaged. Her occasional letter to him had been full of news about this 'Dale' person and Loki was curious to see if she looked as happy in person as she had sounded in her letters. He imagined just the fact that she was engaged to someone who wasn't a trouble magnet had to have been a bit of a blessing for her.

Pulling the god towards the couch, Tony felt his own smile match Loki's. "Come on, sit down, I'll have Jarvis order us some dinner. What are you up for? Chinese or Pizza? Or shall we flip for it?"

Loki was certainly not used to anyone casually touching him these days. Baring of course the hug and kiss he received from his mother during their scheduled lunches.

He was at first taken aback at the strange warmth that flooded his chest when Stark tugged on his hand, dragging him over towards the couch. Chasing just a bit more of that curious warmth Loki reached out and pulled Tony to a stop.

Greedily, Loki folded the engineer into a hard hug, laying his chin upon Starks unruly brown hair. For just the tiniest of moments he allowed himself to delight in the almost forgotten feeling of personal contact with someone who was glad you were alive. Control crumbling, Loki closed his eyes willing away the flood of tears that threatened to unman him. He was very glad that there was no way the little mortal could see the struggle it took him to regain some semblance of calm before he spoke again. "Both Stark, I want both."

OoooO

After deciding that they would postpone dinner until Pepper was free to join them, Loki and Tony started discussing various thought they had on his BiFrost repair project and Tony's take on Jane Foster's Einstein-Rosen bridge theories. Working this as a side project, Tony's progress had been hampered by time constraints, but thanks to the insights he'd gained studying the crystals Loki had smuggled him he'd managed to learn a few things that Jane Foster would have killed to know. But equally important he was able to actually interact with Loki and get a real feel for how it was going for the Trickster in Asgard. Complete with illusions even, since that was the one power returned to Loki so he could show his workers exactly what he wanted them to do. The images of Odin being outraged at all the re-build information being worked up and kept on a system so archaic that none of it could be ported over to the Space Viking net was particularly amusing. Just in case Odin decided someday to force Loki into handing over the notes they had sent back and forth he and Loki decided on a set of revolving encryption keys.

And if the All Father didn't like it, Loki was sure he didn't care.

OoooO

_How in the Nine Realms did we end up like this? _Tony was pretty sure that their present differences began with him being a forgetful dick.

When Loki had originally gone back to Asgard there was nothing Tony wanted more that to just get news of how the godling was doing. After hearing nothing from Asgard for a year, Tony's fervent wish was granted when Thor showed up out of the blue to visit Jane and stopped by to renew Tony's rune. Before he left, he agreed to take a small package and letter for Loki back to Asgard.

Thirty days later, Tony had the crap scared out of him by a honking big black guy with weird yellow eyes appearing on his terrace just as he was about to pour a drink.

"Sir, it appears that you have a visitor from Asgard." Jarvis told him as he hurriedly righted the bottle he had just knocked over and threw a towel on the bar to stop his very expensive spilled whisky from dripping down and making a mess on the shelves below the bar.

"No shit Jarvis." Tony groused heading towards the patio doors at speed. "Maybe a little more warning next time?"

"Sorry Sir, atmospheric conditions interfered with the normal warnings we receive."

"I'm guessing you are Heimdall?" Tony said, holding out his hand and looking up at the huge horned god with the biggest sword that Tony had ever seen in his life strapped to his back.

"Indeed," Boomed a deep voice. Heimdall gave Tony a strange look as he handed him a big, fat parchment-like document envelope which was decorated with numerous seals across the flap. "And you are Anthony Stark also known as Iron Man. Thor has spoken of you often."

Okay, so Odin was right, Thor had been totally punkin' him with that Man of Iron crap. "So?" Tony hefted the envelope looking up with a raised brown and more than a little bit of a question in his voice. "This is?"

"Queen Frigga of Asgard bade me to deliver that to you and to tell you that should you desire, I will return in thirty of your days for an answer."

Dark hope coalesced with Tony's heart. Queen Frigga had never sent him anything that was more than two sheets of paper in a very small envelope. This thing had to be- Holy shit Reindeer Games wrote back! While Tony didn't clutch it to his chest like a pre-teen girl or anything, he did tighten his grip and look hopefully up at Tall, Dark and Creepy Eyed.

"Indeed," The giant intoned with amusement tinging the low tones of his speech at the look on Tony's face. "Well Anthony Stark?"

"Well what?"

"Shall I return in thirty days for an answer?"

"Oh hell yeah!" Tony enthused, but then looked with hopeful calculation at the Asgardian. "Unless you want to stick around for an hour or so, have a few drinks and I'll send something back with you?"

"I cannot be away from my post for that long."

Of course not, Tony thought with irritation. Got to get back up there and watch everyone like the godly peeping tom creep—

Tony's weak, but still existing sense of self-preservation kicked in, breaking off bad thoughts about the big sword carrying guy in case he could not only see across the cosmos but also into the heads of people right in front of him.

"Hey! According to Thor you guys really like to drink up there. How about you give me two minutes to go get you a nice thank you present from my bar and scribble a note?"

"A note to Queen Frigga?"

Tony bobbed his head, not agreeing but willing to play along with the charade. "Yeah. Sure. Queen Frigga."

"Be very fast little mortal, for I cannot tarry longer than a minute or two."

"Right, fast. Got it." _Little mortal my ass_, Tony grumbled internally while keeping any hint of that off his face.

Tony darted inside, leaving Heimdall standing on the terrace. With his height and that helmet, there was no way that Heimdude would be able to enter it the penthouse without ducking down quite a bit, and he certainly did look like the kind of guy who would bow his head in front of a '_little mortal'_.

"Jarvis!" Tony called out worriedly while making a bee-line to the bar, "We got any dead tree leafs sitting around anywhere? And a pen? Pencil? Sharp stick?" Paper was not something that was normally sitting around in his penthouse. It came in to get signatures on it and then left as soon as they were in place.

"In the binder on the lower shelf you will find the restocking checklists that the bartenders use when you have a private party Sir. Pens should be in the miscellaneous supply drawer."

"Right, Binder." Tony ducked down scanning the lower shelves and found a large portfolio binder tucked to one side. He snatched two sheets check lists out of it. Flipping one of them over, he yanked open the drawer to get a pen and began frantically writing.

_Loki, _

_I just got your letter but I don't have time to read it just yet. Heimdude is on a schedule apparently. Fuck if I don't miss you. I'll be sure to have a letter here for him when he returns in thirty days. Let me know what kind of stuff your mom will let me send you. Anything. Just tell me. I wish you hadn't left. _

_Bruce and Pepper are bugging the crap out of me. Oh and thanks for telling me about Bruce having a girl friend dickhead. How is it that I was the LAST to know?! Miss you. Oh I already said that. _

_Keep your chin up buddy and tell Thor I'll kick his ass from here to Elfland if he lets anyone hassle you. I gotta go now._

_I really, really miss you, _

_Stay safe_

_Tony_

He hurriedly folded his note into what had to be the ugliest wad of paper that had ever been sent to a member of royalty anywhere. The 'Loki' he scribbled in pen across the front of the folded paper was barely legible due to it being on the printed check list on that side of the paper, but it would have to do. It wasn't like Frigga would give it to anyone else.

Since glue sticks had not played a part in Tony's life since grade school he decided to be very 'Stark' about sealing it his note shut. A quick flick of a handy paring knife and he had carved the front seal off a bottle of Markers Mark 46, another flick and he had sliced it in half. Tony reached into the still open supply drawer and dug out his trusty Bic long reach wand lighter.

_Okay_. So, once in a while he likes to make a Flaming Asshole when he has guests over, not because he likes creme de bananas or anything, mostly because he likes to watch people's faces when he offers to make them one. And so maybe he had finally learned over the years to stay very far away from high proof liquor when lighting it, especially if he had been drinking heavily himself. This was why he had a long reach lighter available at his bar. That it could alternatively be used to heat up half of a wax seal as it sat on a small metal serving tray was just a bonus as far as he was concerned.

As soon as the red wax started to glisten he turned his note over and pressed the back fold against the warm seal. Using the paring knife to pop the wax off the tray he waved the flame across the front of the wax a moment to soften it before pressing down on the warm wax with his thumb. The pressure made sure the wax firmly sealed the note and it had his thumb print as an impromptu seal. This for the record, while not as fancy as the seals on the Asgardian envelope was still a really clever idea. Even if the wax burn on his thumb hurts like a mo-fo.

Tony made a mental note to design himself a really cool signet ring with a copy of his thumbprint as the seal. Just for laughs mind you.

Pulling the other sheet towards him he frantically scribbled,

_Dear Queen Frigga, _

_You are the best! Really, I mean that. _

_Please give this note to Loki. _

_If ever I can figure out something worthy of you, I am totally sending it. You know what, forget that. I'll ask Pepper, she'll know what to get you. _

_Sincerely, Your Earthgardian Minion,_

_Tony Stark_

He wrapped Loki's note inside of it, wrote Queen Frigga on the outside and sealed it using the remaining half of the wax seal and his other thumb.

Now both thumbs hurt like a bitch.

Snatching up a bottle of _'who knows what'_, Tony ran back around the bar and out to the terrace. "Thanks pal." He panted, no so much from sprinting to the terrace but more from nerves. "This is for the queen, and this is for you." He pushed the note and bottle into the large warrior's hands. "There is more where that came from so let me know if you like it." Heimdall huffed as Tony shoo'ed him back towards the BiFrost pad. "Or if you don't. No problem honest. We'll try something different."

Tony barely stayed on the terrace for long enough to see the light show start before he dashed back inside to open up his envelope from Loki. The contents of which started him on a very strange chapter of his life.

OoooO

Because of Queen Frigga, Tony apparently hadn't aged a day in the last eight years, so while he was technically, as far as the rest of the world knows forty-eight, really he was only forty. Even at forty however, if someone had told Tony that he would have a pen pal he wrote to every day he wouldn't have thought they were insane… He would have absolutely sure of it. But against all odds at whatever age he was now, he did have a pen pal. Not that he regretted it exactly, but at least a couple of times a year he thought how totally 'Summer Camp-ish' it all was.

Tony was never sure what time Mister McFeely was going to power down from Fairyland and pick up the mail. So he had mounted an actual Parcel Post Mail box, a big one, out by the BiFrost landing pad that he could load it up on the evening of the twenty ninth day just to be sure. The small, or sometimes large box was addressed to the Queen but meant for Loki, contained not only his Jarvis transcribed letters but also whatever other goodies Loki had requested or Tony thought the god might enjoy. He also always made sure to put a bottle of something high proof in the mailbox with Heimdall's name on it.

Yeah, the thirty day thing created a bit of time slip but Tony had a countdown app on his desktop and phone. Even if he was out of town, Jarvis would prompt him for the day's letter. Jarvis also made sure they were printed and placed with whatever else Tony wanted to send that month and actually made it to the mail box on time. Truthfully, Tony had been pretty proud of himself. He almost always sent thirty letters, even if he sometimes had to dictate one in the morning and one in the evening to make up for the days when time slipped by or he was recovering from a hangover or something.

As a joke, Tony had ordered a seal with his finger print pattern on it, but he had also had one made that mimicked his arc reactor and always used both of them every package. So far as either of them could tell the queen had never opened any of their envelopes or packages.

Loki had repeatedly assured Tony that she wouldn't. But even so Loki said that he had told her the joke about them wishing they had thought to prank Thor by packing embarrassing stuff, just as insurance against maternal snooping.

Thanks to Asgardian envelopes being some sort of hard material that mimicked stiff sheepskin the god also smuggled several items out of Asgard with his letters. Bits of metals Tony had never seen and even largish pieces of crystal. That had floored him.

He, Tony Stark of Earth, had shards of opal-like crystal, scavenged from the actual space flinging rainbow bridge itself. Crystals changed color in the presence of vibrations and enhanced electric-fields and were so cool it almost killed Tony to keep them a secret.

Loki occasionally also included notes or small gifts for other people. Bruce said that Loki had twice sent him a handfuls of seeds in his letters and once Pepper received a letter with a few pressed maple-like leaves for that were a deep scarlet with golden shimmers that almost seemed to dance on the surface.

Then one day in early December, with absolutely no warning the god himself had shown up. Loki's first visit back to Earth came not quite two years after he had left. Instead of a letter, Frigga had shipped a thin, obviously stressed god down for a six hour visit. From the conversation during that visit, Tony guessed that her allowing Loki to briefly slip Odin's leash was equal parts reward for Loki not fighting with Odin and stress relief for the overwhelming job the godling had been saddled with. BiFrost rebuilding apparently not being for the faint of heart and all that.

As heart breaking as it had been to see the Trickster looking so thin and weary, the god had perked up after hours of tech talk with Tony and a video conference with Pepper while they all chowed down on the god's favorite Pizza and Chinese dishes. That was the visit that he had hooked the god up with a few easily concealable mini-recorders and a shit load of high capacity micro disks.

While they had still exchanged letters after that, their main form of communication switched to file dumps, evening vlogs, and the occasional sneakily filmed guided tour. The head honchos at SWORD would explode if he knew the treasure trove of other worldly information Tony got as Loki roamed the palace and his worksite, explaining, expounding and snarking under his breath to the super sensitive microphones. In addition to editing and distilling for both of them, Jarvis also key worded Loki's discourse as it came in so that if Tony asked a question, Jarvis could look ahead to files not yet viewed or check in those archived and play any sections that pertained to Tony's question.

Just to be funny, Tony had Jarvis edit their recordings into a reality program that Tony had named the 'The Billionaire and the God'. Tony'd even worked up a logo, synthesized a cheesy theme song and put together an intro as his contribution to the show. Once Loki had stopped bitching about not being a Kardashian he had admitted that it was pretty funny and had sniped back and forth with Tony about who got top billing. The engineer was of the opinion that Loki could be as pissy as he wanted to be, but so long as his AI was the one editing the raw footage, then Tony's name would be first. And despite the almost overwhelming temptation to do so, Tony had not posted any of the episodes on YouTube.

_Yet. _

So now, despite his age, Tony did not only have a pen pal, he also had an invisible friend that he talked to during the course of the day while he was working or traveling. A habit which had garnered him the occasional odd look for sure.

Bruce on observing the extent that the two of them were tailoring their communication told Tony the whole relationship was becoming freakily strange and that Tony needed to get a real life.

_Now that Bruce had a steady girl he was going to tell other people how to live? _Tony thought during one of these occasions. He didn't even try to hide his eye roll.

"I don't need a life; I need a fucking Einstein-Rosen bridge." Tony had snapped.

"Well good luck with that," Bruce replied with a smile, pushing his glasses up. "Oh, Janice said to tell you we'll be attending your Christmas party next week." He made a little '_what can I say, the little woman wants to'_ face.

Tony wanted to laugh at the face Bruce made. You would think Tony had invited him to assist in the digging of a sewer ditch and not to one of the most sought after parties of the year.

"Don't look like that Brucie, it'll be fun. You know you want to be there. Captain Fuddy Duddy will be there, so you can hang out with him, and there will also be a couple of venture capitalist attending. Have Pepper hook you up with them. Maybe you can scare up some funding for your senior student's study projects."

OoooO

After Loki had left the months leading up to first Christmas party hadn't been too bad for Tony, other than him feeling like shit and being devastated. And drunk, and in denial, and coping okay but not very well, just to cop a phrase from Barry Manilow. But then he'd had the visit from Loki and things had gotten a lot better. Not great, but tolerable.

This year, what with the monthly communications between the two of them it had been a lot better. Still not great, but as well as could be expected for someone who's best bud slash lab partner was reduced to the status of pen pal and long distance collaborator, emphasis being on long distance of course.

So all in all, while still a tiny bit down, Tony was kinda looking forward to this year's Stark International Christmas Party.

He got to make Pepper happy by playing nice at her party and have a chance at finding a companion for the evening... All without leaving the comfort of his tower.

Did it get any sweeter than that? Tony's attention was drawn once again to the couples dancing.

Make no mistake; Tony Stark appreciated a well-built rack and lush curves. However there was also something absolutely mesmerizing about the lean bodied brunette he watched swaying smoothly from move to move out on the dance floor.

_And so was. _

_Mesmerizing that is._

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

In apology for this not addressing the cliff hanger, I will be posting another (somewhat smutty) chapter of the missing years tomorrow night as soon as I go over it one last time. (Not that I think that will help)

Guys, I not going to lie to you, the story could use some love to motivate me to get my rear in gear and help me get past my 'bad news' sticking point. Please. Tell me something you liked, something you hated, something you will die if you don't see in the future. Anything.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

As always comments and reviews are greatly appreciated.

**If you aren't a comment or review kind of person then Favs and Follows would be wonderful.**

They all help the story placement on the search engine. Many thanks to my faithful commenters and of course to all that have Fav'd and Followed in the past.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

Beta'd by the wonderful** Mima Mia. **Many, many thanks for your assistance.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

**TRIGGER WARNINGS** – **TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS -TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS**

**This chapter will *mention* - Nothing actually. **

**Please DO NOT READ if you will have issues with any of these items.**

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

I don't own the Avengers or Thor, they are the property of Marvel and Disney, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.


	9. Chapter 9 - Sky's the limit

**Chapter Summary** - Tony poaches Captain America's date. Kinda.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

This was an early attempt to write smut, or perhaps I should say smut-lite. If this is not your bag of tea you can skip it with out loosing anything but a bit of backstory. On the plus side I think I've found a way to tie this fluff into the cliff hanger... so yay us!

P.s. I did try really hard for explicit, but I just didn't make it. *le sigh*

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

**TRIGGER WARNINGS IN END NOTES PLEASE READ IF YOU MIGHT HAVE A PROMBLEM WITH CERTAIN SUBJECT MATTER. **

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

**Chapter 9 - Sky's the Limit **

Tony had vaguely noticed the woman earlier when she had persuaded Steve 'the perpetual wall flower' Rogers to dance with her. Not that a lot of women hadn't tried that, but the fact that she had succeeded is what first made Tony take note of her. She had long chestnut curls, a huge wide smile, gorgeous cheek bones and her eyes, what you could see of them under her thick fringe of bangs were done up all sultry-smoky. Over the course of the next hour while he made nice with the various people Pepper presented to him, Tony had caught occasionally glimpses of her dancing, several times with Cap'n Spangles.

Dancer chick's black couture halter dress wasn't particularly short or revealing but it did hug and accentuate everything the woman had to offer. Tony had in fact several times absent mindedly admired her _'lines'_ as the thin dress material flowed over that pert and nicely shaped ass before stopping at mid-thigh. Those _'lines'_ continued down delectably sheer black sheathed legs to a killer pair of black blinged out 'Fuck Me' pumps. Her heels made her almost as tall as Rogers, who was laughing at something she was telling him. The clear crystal studded heels of her shoes were the only bling she wore, not that Tony thought that this chick needed sparklies to help her stand out or anything.

Pepper elbowed him just a bit harder than necessary.

Frowning and dragging his attention back to his CEO Tony demanded in an harsh undertone, "What?"

There wasn't anyone standing with them so it wasn't like he was rude to a guest or anything. What the hell was Pep's problem? Tony discretely rubbed his abused rib.

"You weren't paying attention, I've told you three times we're done here," Pepper hissed while smiling at various passersby. "You can finally go and disappear like you wanted to."

"Yeah?" Tony snarked back out of the side of his mouth while also smiling at the passing crowd. "And I've told you more a million times not to jab me with that damn sharp elbow of yours and you never pay attention to that."

"Whatever Tony." Pepper waved a hand airily. "You are now free of your official duties for this evening. I only ask that you don't get drunk and cause any problems."

"Actually Pep," Tony said, smoothing his suit and adjusting his cuffs. "I think I'll just go over and chat with Steve for a while."

Pepper glanced around a moment until her eyes lit upon the super soldier and his current companion. Understanding blossomed. "Well just play nice Tony. Remember, no causing any trouble tonight."

"As if I would Pep." Tony said sliding quickly away before she changed her mind about releasing him.

Snatching up a drink from a passing waiter, he waltzed over towards Rogers.

"Spangles! Glad you could make it." Smiling warmly he held out a hand to Dancer Chick. "Don't leave on my account. So Steve, please introduce us."

Sky, which was the only name offered, although she did later claim that her last name was Smith, peered down at Tony from underneath thick dark brown bangs, revealing a gorgeous pair of wide blue-green eyes. Steve introduced Tony, and Sky gifted him with a wide teasing grin that so captivated the inventor it took every ounce of will power he had to ascertained that she was merely chance met, and not in fact Steve's date for the evening. Not that he would have necessarily stopped in his pursuit of her. Since she was in fact companion free the billionaire immediately asked her if she would like to dance. Not amazingly, since he was a billionaire, she agreed.

OoooO

Tony thanked whatever gods were listening that his party had been held in his own Tower this year, and not some other venue. If it had taken even two more minutes to get to his private elevator he would have just slammed his hottie up against the wall and started feeling her up in front of the entire room. Even so, they almost didn't make it. The playboy knew he had definitely run hard hands down over that luscious ass of hers before the elevator doors closed. And as he had suspected, since her thin black dress didn't leave a lot to the imagination, in addition to the bra she wasn't wearing, Sky didn't have any panties on either.

This might have been when he moaned. Fortunately, the doors _'had'_ closed by the time he buried his face against her neck and run his hands back up her lace stockings. Rucking her dress up almost to her waist, Tony couldn't help but run the palms of his hands up the backs of her legs and over her sculpted ass.

Moaning, Sky snaked her long arms inside his opened jacket, melting into him more than he thought possible, her one hand pressing against the middle of his back and the other sliding down to nestle right above his own ass, firmly tucked inside the waist band of his slacks.

Taking another nip, Tony felt his lips curl up into a ridiculously self-satisfied smile. Fuck if this didn't feel more right than any one night stand he'd had in years. Pulling her tight against him, Tony rubbed his hips against her and was rewarded with tiny breathless whines that sent heat curling straight to his belly. When panting, Sky arched her head back allowing him to trail more hot kisses across her throat and jaw line, he felt the sensation move a little lower.

At some point in time, without Tony pressing any buttons or telling Jarvis to take them to his floor the elevator finally began to move. It hadn't been much of a lurch when the elevator started, this was his building after all, but apparently there was just enough movement to cause Body Beautify to open up her stance a bit for extra stability.

Tony couldn't resist, one hand trailed down Sky's ass, chasing the shifting of those taut muscles and found that the insides of those long legs were now fully accessible. Wearing heels made her taller than he was, so Tony was easily able to curl his fingers into the warm gap between her thighs. Pressing upwards, just a bit, rewarded was him with a gasp that changed almost instantly in to a throaty growl. Sky pushed purposefully backwards with a little wiggle nestling herself firmly on his hand.

_Oh fuck yeah. _

Again Tony buried his head against her neck breathing deeply, taking in her heady perfume of arousal. Using his other hand, he pulled her tighter against him creating the most appreciated pressure on his own very prominent erection. How long they stood there rocking against each other while glorious jolts of sensation shot through their bodies Tony couldn't say. Eventually he did notice that the elevator door had opened and his penthouse, with hundreds of eminently fuckable surfaces, beckoned him.

"Sky, sweetheart, come on, we're at my floor." Tony said trying unsuccessfully to pull away, amazed at how strong she was. He nudged her, lifting his head to look into her unfocused eyes.

_No help there apparently._

When he tried to shift them toward the door he found their positions suddenly reversed and he was now the one pressed up against the elevator wall. Her right hand was no longer under his jacket; it was now sliding up past the nape of his neck and clutching the hair at the back of his head. Pulling on his hair Sky tugged his head back and then lowered her lips for another mind-blowing kiss.

"Swee-" Tony didn't get to finish as the moment he opened it the most sumptuous pair of lips he'd enjoyed in long while took complete possession of his mouth. Her tongue slid right in, silencing him with a series of tiny heartfelt moans.

Tony had thought that the kisses they had snuck during the party were pretty hot, but he now had a whole new standard. He hadn't been kissed with this much passion and authority since…

_Well since then._

Almost as if his partner had sensed Tony's instant of inattention, her tongue retreated, gently tracing the edge of Tony's front teeth on its way out so that it could softly slide over his lips. Her own teeth now lightly tugged on the playboys lower lip. Teasing his mouth open again and making the most delightful little noises as her lip danced against his. Between the kisses and the stuttering, almost involuntary rocking of her hips as she pressed her fold against his hand Sky managed to chase every single thought that wasn't about her right out of out of Tony's head.

Between the kissing, his own aching cock and the increasing slickness of Sky's tight pussy; Tony thought he was going to lose his mind. The only thing standing between him and complete bliss was a pair of boxers and the finely worsted wool of a pair of custom tailored slacks.

Well that and the fact that he was still standing in an elevator. His private elevator controlled by Jarvis thankfully, but still not the place to be going much further when there were several other people in the building who were authorized to call for it.

So yeah, possibly not a good idea to linger, what with Jarvis's occasionally perverse delight in obeying authorized overrides no matter how much it embarrassed Tony. For all he isn't human, Jarvis could be a real prick sometimes. Something that never ceased to puzzle him since, A. Jarvis didn't have one and B. Tony _'knows'_ he never coded that behavior into Jarvis' programing.

But whatever. Pissy Jarvis was a problem for another day and so those thoughts merely skimmed through the background noise of Tony's consciousness. They then fled altogether as the majority of the playboy's thought processes were almost shut down when Sky's soft hand found and began stroking his cock with insistent and very authoritative strokes.

While Tony was normally the one driving, occasionally allowing someone else to take the reins was totally fine with him.

_Occasionally. _

_And just don't get me started on the topic of how hot found handcuffs and silk scarfs were, _he thought_. _

A dark shiver of remembrance for times past ran through him. Sky to let go of his hair and chased the tremor down his back while a naughty chuckle escaped her. Tony gasped as she twisted her hand just so, her clever fingers tugging gently on the head of his cock in a way that made Tony want to raise up on tip toe to chase the sensation.

_So he did._

Several moments of lip locking later, in danger of passing out from lack of oxygen, Tony wrenched his mouth away from hers, moving both his hands to her hips. He glanced up in time to see a frown pucker her brow as he moved his right hand from her clit to her hip. Her head dropped on his shoulder.

"Tony," She protested petulantly, pressing hard against him, flattening him against the wall.

Tony made another unsuccessful attempt to push away from the wall towards the beckoning penthouse. When that didn't work he decided to put a little bit of his _'extremist enhancement'_ into it, finally pushing her off of him.

Sky's eyes flew open locking on his in confused surprise, looking more green than blue in the soft amber light of the elevator.

"You dancers are strong, but I am Iron Man," He told her with a lopsided smile backing her towards the hall way leading into his room. "It's not all the suit you know."

Purring with that liquid chocolate voice of hers Sky replied, "I am not a dancer, but I can't wait for you to show me how strong Tony Stark really is even without his suit."

To add to the incredible scrumptiousness of her voice, her accent sinfully tingled its way to various important nerve groups in his body. Those feelings were more than enough to distract Tony from wondering about the devilish little smile she was giving him as he chivied her down the hallway. A moment later Tony noticed with surprise that he was no longer slowly pushing her towards his bedroom, rather she towing him towards it at an ever swifter pace.

Glancing behind her a time or two so she wouldn't walk into a wall, Sky towed him into the bedroom and over to his bed, swinging him around at the last moment so she could press him down on the dark grey duvet.

Tony reached out and pulled her down with him, her delicately scented curls tumbling all around them as he nuzzled her neck, again breathing in the intoxicating smell of sexual arousal mixed with Sky's own clean scent of winter rain. Tony was _'not'_ a freaking teen-ager anymore, but as he kissed her jaw line ghosting his mouth down to her delicate collar-bone, the temptation to mark this woman was so over overwhelming he had to force himself not to.

_But I want to,_ inner Tony whined.

He wanted that so much that it completely took him by surprise, since marking casual lays was not something that Tony Stark ever did.

Somehow, Tony wasn't sure how, since he had a tight hold on Sky's bare ass with one hand and her waist with the other, his tall leggy minx wiggled out of his grasp and stood up again.

"Oh no Tony. You shall not have it that easily," she said trailing a long finger lightly down his chest and over the twitching bulge in his pants. She then crawled off of him with a wide saucy smile as she backed away a few paces from the bed.

Tony raised up on his elbows watching her. She lifted a brow inquiringly, as if to ask if he was paying attention, before stretching her arms up towards the ceiling and then bringing them down on either side of her head. Sliding her hand beneath her hair she lifted it. Sky closed her eyes as she turned her face to the side, granting the playboy an excellent view of her profile before letting her now unruly curls tumble back down.

Glancing at Tony with hooded eyes, she gave him a small knowing smile. The playboy sat up on the edge of the bed, puzzled by the strangely sly expression on her face. Before he could wonder too much about it, her hands were un-fastening the wide cloth collar holding dress's halter top in place. Completing that task those delicate pale fingers started gliding down around her breasts, meeting on her sculpted stomach before continuing down to dip into the hollow between her legs. She stopped there for one breath catching moment as delighted shiver seemed to run though her. Biting her lower lip her hands resumed stroking downwards until they reached the bottom of her short black dress.

_Where they paused. _

Watching him intently from beneath her lashes she slowly pulled the dress up and over her head before tossing it to a nearby chair. Sky spread her feet slightly apart and folded her hands behind her back standing before him in all of her glory.

His breath catching and his cock twitching, Tony feasted his eyes on the sexiest parade rest he'd ever seen. Her toned and sculpted body was like a Victoria's Secret runway version of Aphrodite, but better because there weren't any annoying bras or panties interfering with his view. Instead it was just Sky in sheer black thigh highs and Fuck-me pumps, standing there like a pale answer to his every prayer.

Tony was more than ready to spend the rest of the night worshiping her.

After giving him a long moment to look his fill, Sky turned her back to Tony. Lifting one foot, then the other she took her high heels off. With a saucy look over her shoulder she bent over sliding her fingers under the top of one of her stockings. A view of her backside that left nothing to the imagination.

Tony mentally uttered heartfelt thanks at the spectacle of Sky's pert ass being displayed for him. Even if the sight was causing him physical pain due to his pants not being near loose enough for his growing erection.

"Hey Sexy," Tony commanded hoarsely, "Losing the heels is fine but let's keep the nylons."

Patting her stocking back into place the brunette again looked at him over her shoulder, an amused brow lifted at neediness of his tone. "I had plans for my nylons Tony," she said running the tip of her tongue over her lower lip.

Tony moaned thinking of all the placed he wanted that tongue to run.

"If you insist however."

Tony's breath hitched as Sky bent lower running her hands slowly from her ankles up her nylon clad leg, needlessly smoothing the sheer material before finally standing back up and turning to face him.

Beckoning her over to him, Tony patted his knee.

"I've always been attracted to women like you," Tony said as if telling a secret. He pulled her to stand between his wide spread legs and placed his cheek against her toned tummy, running his hands gently from mid back to her lower thighs. She delighted him with how she leaned into his touch almost greedily.

Moving, she somehow ended up straddling him, one stocking clad knee on the bed, her other foot still on the floor. Holding herself up off of his lap she bent down to whisper in his ear.

"There are no women like me Tony." She said almost sadly.

Tony's thoughts froze for a moment while her tongue delicately outlined the shell of his ear. He tried to consider why that statement seemed to clamor for his attention, but a series of small nips on his neck made him lose all interest in trying to puzzle out anything more complicated that how quickly he could get his pants off.

Unfortunately the hottie straddling him was currently more interested in getting his tie undone. "Since you wanted me to keep my nylons on, I am afraid your tie will never be the same again." She said nipping at his lower lip. "I do hope it wasn't one of your favorites."

"I's a Cavalli," He replied automatically, looking up to find her regarding him in an almost overpoweringly possessive manner.

Sky looked at Tony like he was the most important person in her world. And while he normally he did not relish that kind of intensity from his one night stands Tony would be damned if he wasn't finding it to be the hottest thing he'd experienced in forever.

"Which means nothing to me," She cooed, wrinkling her nose adorably before leaning down to kiss his. "All I care about is that it's soft and strong and will look so pretty tied around your wrists." Her lips moved down and found the corner of his mouth. "And look, you have the perfect head board."

She slipped the tie out from beneath his collar, threading around her own neck so that the loose ends hung on either side of her small breasts. Hot breathy kisses peppered his face while slender fingers made quick work of getting his shirt unbuttoned. "I do think nothing says adventurous male like a wrought iron headboard. Look at it, so many lovely secure places to wrap a tie around."

Tony hadn't picked out his headboard, an interior decorated had, but those same thoughts _'had'_ crossed his mind when he approved its purchase.

"So you intend to tie me up and have your wicked way with me?" He asked face crinkling up in amusement. "I could be up for that."

A laugh trilled out. "You could, could you? Well I do promise to make sure you are '_up for that'_ for a very, very long time. Perhaps even longer that you think possible."

Sky returned to kissing him, "And you will enjoy."

"Every."

"Single."

"Minute, " her soft kisses punctuating each word.

Her last feathery kiss was placed on the corner of his smile as she looked down at him.

Tony was not adverse to her proposed course of action. Quite the opposite in fact, but he also wanted to see if perhaps his own game was good enough to distract her from it.

"Sounds great," He huffed, stroking his hands down her sides while he stretched up to plant a few soft kisses of his own. "But I gotta warn you just in case you decide to tie me up and ransack the joint, my security is pretty good."

"There is nothing in the…"

Sky stopped a disconcerted expression flashing across her face for the briefest of instants. Blinking, she shifted against him, her small breasts distractingly within the reach of his mouth, "There is nothing in this _'tower'_ that I want more than what I already have laid my hands upon." She assured him.

Sky moved back enough to undo his pants. She had no sooner undone his zipper when Tony decided he had had just about enough of being patient. Holding firmly onto her hips he pushed her back up to her feet, stood up and twisted quickly, tossing her to the center of the bed.

Ignoring her undignified squawk of protest Tony quickly dropped his pants, taking only a second to also remove his boxers and shoes. Yeah, so he was still wearing his socks. Sue him.

Tony all but dove onto the bed, landing with a bounce beside Sky's pale figure.

"Gotcha!" The playboy crowed wrapping his arms around her waist just as she starting to scoot away from him.

Her delighted shriek at being manhandled back towards the center of the bed dissolved into giggles as he pinned her in place with his arms and legs, stopping her halfhearted escape attempts. And not incidentally pressing his almost painfully hard length against her thigh.

"Before you use this," Tony nosed his tie lying against her neck, "And show me your moves, I need to show you a few of mine."

While they never did get to the main event, Tony did use his hands, lips, teeth and tongue to the point of her repeatedly screaming 'Stark' loud enough for them to hear her in Brooklyn.

As for Tony? He was of the firm opinion that Santa had totally delivered for him this year.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

As always comments and reviews are greatly appreciated.

**If you aren't a comment or review kind of person then Favs and Follows would be wonderful.**

They all help the story placement on the search engine. Many thanks to my faithful commenters and of course to all that have Fav'd and Followed in the past.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

Beta'd by the wonderful** Summerlove_jls. **Many, many thanks for your assistance.

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**TRIGGER WARNINGS** – **TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS -TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS**

**This chapter will *contain * - Mature Subject Matter and F/M sex. If this is a problem for you please don't read it. Most of it will not be graphic except maybe the smut if I can manage it, but some areas could get trigger-y for people sensitive on that topic. **

**Please DO NOT READ if you will have issues with any of these items.**

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I don't own the Avengers or Thor, they are the property of Marvel and Disney, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.


	10. Chapter 10 - Is it Christmas Again?

**Chapter Summary** - Jarvis totally falls down on the job while Tony ponders the meaning of the holidays and has fun playing party games... or rather 'after party' games.

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Beta'd by the wonderful Mima Mia and after I added 2K and had to totally rework it my savior in a far away time zone Stella.

As I mentioned previously I was kinda thrown for a loop when my life went to hell. I had to relocate on the other side of the country and I just couldn't concentrate on writing. Since this arc was mostly done... I decided to toss it in here rather than have a month or so gap of no story at all.

But on the plus side I did think of a way to tie them into the fight the guys were having. Another plus is I have about three thousand words of chapter 11 finished which will circle around to where we left off for chapter 12 of which I have two thousand words finished. So I am moving again, scattered attention span fighting with remodeling projects to get settled into the new place perhaps, but at least thinking of the story and not stalled thank god.

If you want a visual for this I posted a sketchy thing on my tumblr page yesterday, click on her name in the tags and the original visuals will come up. Or go to my Ao3 posting and get the links, I'd give you here but fanfic is crappy about not allowing them.

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**TRIGGER WARNINGS IN END NOTES PLEASE READ IF YOU MIGHT HAVE A PROMBLEM WITH CERTAIN SUBJECT MATTER. **

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**Chapter 10 – Is it Christmas again?**

The older you get, the faster Christmas comes each year, Tony mused. It seemed like the decorators had just plucked the mistletoe down from his ceiling and now it was fucking Christmas again. Not that it really mattered so far as Tony's day to day activities went, still it was the principle of the thing.

Once Pepper had moved up to CEO, Tony had simply put Jarvis in charge of Christmas gift buying, which the AI did superbly by simply doing a running check of everyone's internet history files throughout the year. While this was possibly more than a bit stalker-ish, it did enable Jarvis was able to come up with spot on suggestions for everyone on Tony's gift list, except for one notable exception this year.

Frankly, the inventor could have lived without seeing some of the suggestions Jarvis had come up with for Harley. Reviewing the suggestions, Tony hoped the damn kid's hormones settled down soon. But no matter what the kid 'wanted' for Christmas, what he was getting was a totally kitschy 'Framed and Personalized World Traveler Map' to hang on his wall. Along with of course a bunch of travel vouchers so he could make use of the little 'I've been here' pins and mark the map up accordingly. And what vacation gift package would be complete without the latest Stark Phone with an upgraded camera and memory so he could take enough vacation pics to bore his family and friends to tears with.

Oh and a bottle of Dalmore Grand Reserve to share with said friends and incidentally celebrate his first Christmas of being legal.

"Sir, are you quite sure whiskey is an appropriate gift for Young Master Harley?" Jarvis asked disapprovingly.

"Just get it Jay," Tony said wryly and moving down to the next set of suggestions on the list. "After some of the crap you came up with for the kid, I don't think you have the moral high ground on this one." Jarvis' silence was admission enough to Tony that the AI knew he'd screwed up for once.

After making final choices of for everyone else on his list… including a pink tutu for the apparently impossible to kill Nicholas 'Yeah I'm too bad assed to stay dead' Fury, Tony begrudgingly trudged upstairs to get ready for tonight's annual Stark International Christmas party.

OoooO

The short, lusciously rounded chick talking to Steve looked adorable, even from across the room. She had the sweetest heart-shaped face, wide leaf green eyes and a cloud of short black hair in a tousled Japanese pixie cut. She wore a short black sleeveless skater dress with black fingerless gloves that went up past her elbows and a pair of black heels with double ankle straps. The only thing keeping her from being the hit of any Anime Convention of your choice, were the missing whiskers and a cat ear headband.

All in all, not what Tony normally was attracted to.

However, there was something about the way she crinkled up her face in concentration and the adorable wide smile she gave the Steve that struck a chord in Tony, drawing him closer to the pair almost against his will. As he approached them he noticed with amusement how much her rhinestone necklace resembled an anime styled animal collar. It surprised Tony that there wasn't a little jeweled name tag hanging from the front as a finishing touch, but he supposed that would have been a bit too much for this venue. Not that a grown woman in the juvie attire she was wearing wasn't already pushing that boundary.

Of course Tony also couldn't help thinking that a the dangling jeweled name tag would have been helpful, since it would have allowed him to find out her name and approach her directly. Instead he wasted forty minutes trying to wend his way through crowds of people who all seemingly decided that they absolutely had to talk to him 'for just a second Mister Stark'.

Yeah. Right. Predictably there wasn't a one of them that Tony had wanted to talk to.

"Heya Steve." Tony greeted the tall blonde, having finally made his way over to him.

Tony gestured towards the goth pixie, a short distance away in a group that now included Pepper. "What's with the Cosplay Princess? One of your fangirls?"

Steve frowned at Tony for bringing up a part of modern hero-ing that the solider could have very well lived without. "Not that I'm aware of Tony, or if she is a fangirl that is, she didn't mention it." The tuxedoed icon answered with a mildly puzzled expression, no doubt due to Tony's reference to cosplay.

In Tony's opinion, Steve didn't look nearly as cute as Pixie Chick did when he scrunched up his face. "So what did you and Neko Chibi talk about?"

"I thought her name was Lyra?" Steve's brows furled a bit more and he looked down at his shoes a moment. "Lyra Walters? No. Winters? Walker. Lyra Walker she said," He shrugged and looked back up at Tony. "She was asking me about my preferred medium for drawing and if I ever thought about going into art full time." Steve's expression became almost sheepish, a half-smile crooked on his face. "You know, normal conversation stuff that normal people talk about. Since she wasn't fussing at me about 'Captain America' like half the women here, I asked her to dance." His smile widened into a big grin, "She's quite the dancer. Afterwards she asked me to introduce her to Ms Potts."

And she must have been a very good dancer, Tony had thought earlier when he'd noticed them twirling around the floor, surprised at how relaxed and smooth Captain Spangles had looked. Steve was still pretty stiff when he danced. At first it had been from lack of experience, but now it was usually from Rogers' apprehension at the predatory nature of modern females. They were sometimes so bold it was a wonder that Steve didn't walk around constantly clutching his pearls.

Musical peals of laughter wafted over to them from the Pepper's group.

"Huh. Well that's great. Enjoy yourself buddy," Tony absent-mindedly patted Steve's arm, ignoring the knowing look he was receiving as he drifted away towards the nearby females.

It took him maybe another fifteen minutes to detach Pixie Chick from Pepper's orbit, but was well worth the effort. Lyra Walker, it turned out, was a funny, sassy, bubbly, little ball of energy. She was so energetic that when they weren't dancing, laughing or drinking, she literally bounced at his side, apparently unable to stand still even for a moment. It wasn't until much later when he pinned her up against the atrium balcony's glass railing that he could finally get her to stand still.

"Are you always like this?" He asked in amusement when after a moment she began to squirm in his arms, turning to face him.

"Like what? Pinned up against a railing unable to move by a handsome billionaire? While on a private balcony overlooking one of the best parties in the whole city?"

"Yeah."

"I wish." She retorted, grinning up at him before stretching her arms up and arching backwards over the railing.

"Whoa there Pixie," Tony cautioned as he let go of the glass on either side of her and instead wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. "And that's the best party, not one of the best."

"Well it is a Stark party, so I guess it would have be," Lyra said with an adorable little smirk before confiding to him, "I'm not worried. I know you would never let me fall." She lowered her arms and threaded her hands behind his neck, tugging him down so she could whisper huskily in his ear. "I just want to thank you for the best time I've had all year."

The raw honestly in her voice tugged at something deep inside of Tony as he felt all the manic energy in her body drain away. She melted bonelessly against him into a long, hot, almost desperate kiss.

A very public kiss as they were very visible from below. Tony knew that if he allowed things to get any hotter between them while in such a public space, Pepper was certainly going to yell at him tomorrow. At the very least.

With difficulty, he managed to find the will to break free. "Do you maybe want to continue this upstairs in my apartment?" He asked, trying to get back the breath stolen from him during their kiss.

"Not here?" Lyra, brows furled in feigned puzzlement, pouted. "I thought that's why we came up here."

It was official; this chick had one of the most adorable pouts Tony had ever seen on anyone older than five.

"Yeah. No. We came up here to…"

"You know what?" Tony looked around. Sure there were lots of comfortable couches and chairs here since the atrium balconies were often used as a mini-reception area. In fact, a few catering tables were already set up for a morning meeting of some sort. But Tony was honestly not sure why they came up here. In another venue, this might have been an 'okay' space for some heavy tonsil hockey while he convinced a chick to come home with him. But how was it that he forgot he was in his own freaking building which had much better places to have sex in? Especially adventurous sex. Because as sure as his name was Tony Stark, he just knew the uninhibited little ball of fun in front of him was most likely capable of the loudest, wildest monkey love he'd experienced in a good long while.

In which case, Pepper would definitely kill him if they did on one of the balconies.

"I'm not sure what I was thinking." He shrugged. "A shorter ride than it takes to get to my penthouse? A last look at the best party of the year? I don't know."

He snaked an arm around her waist and headed them towards the elevator. "But what I do know is that you'll like my apartment better."

"I'm sure I will," Lyra agreed leaning against him with a smile.

As they passed one of the catering tables, Pixie pulled away so she could reach across him to grab a handful of cloth napkins. Tony looked down and gave her a puzzled look. Normally the people he invited to his penthouse where not the type to steal linen or anything. However, from the start he'd known that this chick was more than a bit different. So the only thing he could do was hope that Jarvis would keep an eye on her, in case she decided to start in on his guest towels, or tried to lift a watch, or something.

And she was, different that is, really different. And it was a short, luscious, hell of a good kisser different that Tony could totally live with. As Tony's hands roamed down her body, he was unsurprised when she started loudly moaning into his mouth. He could feel his lips curling up at the corners while she pressed hot kisses against them. As unrestrained as she was, Tony had known she would be a bit noisy, and he wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she turned out to be a screamer.

Not that he minded that in the least, vocal was more than okay as far as he was concerned. Hell, Tony didn't give a good god damn if the whole tower knew he was hitting the right keys with this year's Christmas present. Well except for the fact that Pep would kill him. Tired of bending over and still not getting the angle he wanted, Tony slid his hands under her firm little ass and lifted. Without interrupting the kiss they were sharing, Lyra gave a little squeak of surprise as his hand continued to move, now sliding down a bit, tugging her legs apart so they could wrap around his waist.

This was a much better angle for him. Plus with her short hair, he could totally nibble on the jumping pulse point under her jaw. "Jarvis, a little help here?" He muttered approaching the elevator with his passenger wrapped securely around him.

Lyra picked her head up. Her brows furrowed in cute confusion as she craned her head around trying to see who Tony was talking too.

As the elevator doors slid open he explained, "Don't worry, Jarvis is the Artificial Intelligence program that runs this building." Her face did a little 'Ah Ha' of understanding and after a moment she wiggled her very warm self against him, her eyes drifting half closed in apparent contentment.

Draping her arms around his neck and twisting clever fingers into his hair, she leaned back in his grasp. An oddly proprietary look flashed underneath those lowered lids, so quickly that he almost wasn't sure he had seen it.

"Oh I have such plans for you, Tony Stark," She purred.

And damned if she didn't. The chick was totally into the chase.

As the elevator doors opened, she dropped down and twisted out of his grasp, snagging one small hand into his jacket and towing him into his own apartment. They hadn't even made it out of the foyer when she turned and stopped him. Delicate fingers reached up and traced Tony's lower lip while her other hand threaded in his hair to tug him down. "You need to strip down to your boxers Tony, we're going to play a game, and if you win I'll do 'anything' you want." She breathed into his ear before quickly flicking out her tongue to delicately lick the shell of his ear.

"Anything I want?" Tony looked down and asked with a skeptical smile. "Seriously?"

"Uh huh," She hummed, wiggling out of his embrace and stepping back several paces. She draped the napkins on the railing overlooking the living room and reached for the zipper on the side of her dress. "But if you lose we are doing it my way."

"This is so unfair," He groused as he hurriedly shucked his jacket over a nearby bench and began undoing his belt buckle. "You have a lot less to take off. So… Just to clarify… If I want you to crawl around on your knees wearing cat ears and climb up into my lap purring, you'd be good with that?" Tony asked with a smirk.

Turning to him with an adorably astonished look, she tossed her dress on top of his jacket and asked in an incredulous voice, "You have a headband with cat ears in your closet Tony?"

Tony wasn't sure if it was the furled brows or her adorably skeptical look, but something caused his heart to stutter for a moment. Of course, since Pixie wasn't wearing near the amount of clothes that he was, it could have been the sight of her standing there in a black and pink, trimmed with matching little pink bows, bra and panty set and black heels. However as alluring as it was to watch her run her fingers absently along the top of her panties… and it really was, his attention kept shifting back to her crooked little smile.

"Uh. No. Sadly I don't. And can I just say that I am starting to think that this shows a complete lack of planning on my part." He hurriedly kicked off his shoes and stepped out of his trousers. Kicking them aside, he toed off his socks and started loosening his tie.

"So anything?" He asked hopefully, not able to stop himself from just double checking his possible good fortune. "Like back door?" Not that he necessarily wanted to go there, but he did want to see how far Pixie would go. Right now? He was betting pretty far.

A peal of laughter escaped her. "Back door?" Her nose crinkled endearingly. "Seriously Stark, just call it anal sex, we're both adults here. And yes, that is a choice you can make…" Her head tilted challengingly. "If you win."

Tony shrugged raising his own brows and his expression scrunching in his own non-verbal version of a 'Hey, just checking'.

"I guess that means spanking is okay too then huh?"

Tilting her head like she could not believe he was that dorky Lyra gave him a mockingly confused look. "Tell me Tony," she asked in a throaty voice, stepping up to him and sliding her hands up the front of his now bare chest. "Exactly what have I done that I deserve a spanking?" Mischievous pale green eyes peeped up at him from under her unruly bangs. Her fingers busied themselves tugging his tie free, and rolling it loosely around her palm.

"Have I been bad?" she whispered, stretching up to brush her lips against his.

Heart pounding, Tony just stood there for a minute, wondering at the electrifying tingle he felt when her fingers touched his skin. He placed his hands on her rounded hips and decided it wasn't her fingertips, it was just her skin against his.

Period.

"Oh sweetheart, you have no idea how very bad you are," He husked. Thinking quickly he added, "Hell, you just stole a bunch of napkins not ten minutes ago." He felt her hands reach around and clasp behind his back. "And just now you took my tie without my permission." Bending down his lips brushed against her's. "Good girls don't steal," He murmured against her all too inviting mouth.

"Ah, well then I guess I do need to be spanked." Lyra trailed her hands back along his waist each one holding an end of his tie. Bringing them together in the front she tied the textured silk in a knot, the tie now closely fastened around his waist. "I think perhaps it's time to get started, don't you? To see who gets their way this evening?" Tugging gently on the ends of the tie, she walked them backwards to where she'd draped the napkins over the railing. Taking two, she threaded them under the tie until he had one hanging from his impromptu belt over each hip. Her delicate fingers caused little electrifying currents to course down to his already hardening cock. She her fingers once more above the red tie around his waist, and then teasingly smoothed down the ends hanging in front of his cock.

Peeling his hands off of her hips, she gave him the other two napkins. "Would you like to place them for me?" She asked archly, crossing her hands behind her head and tilting a bikini clad hip towards him.

"So what exactly are we doing here?" Tony asked, tucking a napkin underneath the waistband on one side of her panties. Not that he didn't already have a good idea; he was after all a genius. He turned her so her back was now to him so she could place the second napkin over her other hip. "And might I hope you are going to keep your heels on while we're doing it?" He asked running his fingertips across the soft skin on her hip. Slipping his hand around to her taunt tummy he pulled Pixie tight against his front so he could gently rut against her inviting bottom.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" She asked archly looking over her shoulder and smiling at him. Lyra wiggled out of one of her shoes and kicked it over towards the bench. She repeated that delectable body movement with the other shoe, brushing up against him and causing all manner of areas in his body to tighten. Taking shameless advantage of Tony's shock at how good it felt to have that firm little ass of hers rubbing against him, she twisted out of his grasp. This was good in a way, because otherwise he would not have been able to resist grinding against her like some high school kid.

"Now Tony, without any help from your security man." She waved in the general direction of the ceiling. "We are going to play tag. The first person to get both scarfs gets to have their wicked way with the other. Agreed?"

"They're napkins," He said just to be argumentative.

"They should have been scarfs. Long smooth silk scarfs that would have felt wonderful as they rubbed between us." She snickered, "But for now, we just pretend. Agreed?" She walked backwards down the ramp, Tony trailing slowly after her.

"Sure. No going outside, okay? Not that you could without freezing to death," He added. "And no going to another level. Agreed?"

"Yes… At the count of three?" Tony nodded, and she circled to put the couch between them, and moved towards the opposite side of the living room.

"One."

"Two."

"Three!"

The end of the count signified the beginning of possibly the strangest bout of foreplay Tony had participated in for at least the last ten years.

Sprinting toward the petite beauty, he rolled over the back of the couch as she laughed and darted along the terrace windows, scrambling onto the small ledge, she skinned over the glass railing separating the bar entertainment area from the living room. Tony was just glad he wasn't wearing anything like his dress slacks right now, because the view of her leaping while wearing only that tiny little bikini bottom and bouncing demi-cup bra made him feel pretty damn crowded even in only loose-fitting boxers. Pixie was pretty fast, but Tony's legs were longer, so he was able to catch up with her by the ramp that went back down to the living room.

Pixie let out a totally faked squeak of terror as he reached for her and then, instead of running, the little faker twisted and ducked under his out stretched arm trying to grab one of Tony's flags. He managed to bat her hand away and blocked her from heading back towards the living room, but she took off down the hallway before he could grab her. "No locking doors behind you!" He yelled pelting after her. "Jarvis has permission to open them if you do!"

"Like I need to do that!" She hollered back, speeding down the hallway, "You're too slow Tony." She made the mistake of heading into the kitchen, no doubt hoping to lose him as she sped around the island, but Tony faked back and managed to snag an arm around her waist. Swinging the panting, laughing Lyra around, the playboy pulled her against him and they wrestled for a few minutes each trying to grab the other's hands so they could push them away from the flags. Again, using moves worthy of a snake, Lyra wiggled down to the floor, losing her bra but escaping Tony's grip. Not that he was grabbing her too hard; after all he didn't want her to end the night with bruises all over her body.

He grinned to himself, maybe just a one on her bottom if he decided to spank her. Just enough of a bruise to remind her when she tried to sit down the next day, how unwise it was to bet against Tony Stark.

Her cry of triumph and the feeling of cloth sliding down the outside of his leg alerted Tony that he had let his concentration slip. "One more Stark and then your ass is mine!" Lyra crowed in what Tony considered way too gloating a manner. Throwing the napkin in the air, Lyra went flying back out of the kitchen. Sacrificing his dignity for expediency, Tony clambered up a nearby stool and rolled over the top of the breakfast bar, meeting her as she rounded the corner of the bar.

"Gotcha!"

But he didn't. With a shriek, Pixie twisted like a cat avoiding a tub full of water, and doubled back the way she came, almost losing her panties.

Wait? Would that count? She would definitely loose both napkins, worse come to worst he would have more of a chance snatching them up from the floor that trying to grab them as she dashed all over the place.

He could win the game and improve the view at the same time, Tony thought with a mental smirk. Oh yeah, that could definitely work… For him anyhow.

Leaping forward, Tony decided to try his new strategy; making a wild grab, his hand brushing across her hip just above the thin material of her panties. He just missed getting a hold on the thin material but he was able to get her to dodge towards the hallway that led to his bedroom, so he counted that as a definite plus. If he was going to wrestle with the little minx, he would prefer to do it on top of a mattress rather than a cold marble floor.

OoooO

Chasing Lyra into the bedroom, Tony arriving just in time to see her make a gazelle like leap up on to his bed, her barely covered ass completely distracting him. That sight of those smooth mounds curving down to a pair of the nicest thighs Tony has seen in a long time…

Almost as if she had sensed his lapse in concentration, Pixie turned and leapt into his arms in a totally unfair maneuver. Stumbling backwards several paces while Tony was trying to keep them both from falling, the sly bitch snaked a hand down grabbing at his hip.

"Ah ha!" Lyra cried a slight sheen glistened on heaving her chest as she held up Tony's last flag. Twisting out of his arms, she jumped back onto the bed in a way that showed she was still very much in touch with her inner child, most adults having outgrown the inclination to jump on beds, punching their fists in the air and doing a victory bounces.

"I win! I win!" She crowed, waving the napkin over her head as she bounced as high as Tony's very expensive inner spring mattress would allow. Which was a lot, so he guessed it was a good thing that the penthouse had very high ceilings.

Despite his momentary annoyance as a super hero, because he was one no matter what certain news outlets said, losing to a slightly flaky Goth princess, Tony had to admit the sight of a scantily clad woman leaping into the air like that was worth it.

And yeah, maybe it wasn't only the view. There was something so captivating about Lyra's complete abandonment of accepted social behavior that Tony couldn't help but smile at. It was almost like she was determined to enjoy every aspect of her evening, no matter what he or, judging by the outfit she had worn to the party, anyone else might think.

"Come to me Tony," she cooed, dropping down to her knees, using the hand with the napkin to balance with, while extending her other hand and crooking a finger at him. Her lips curled in an evil elfish grin that Tony found strangely enthralling. It was the hint of incisors that did it for him.

"I gotta say, you're good," the hero of New York admitted. She straightened up proudly. He was now pretty much reconciled to losing their game. Even if it was a bit embarrassing to lose to a pixie with tiny pink bows quivering on her equally tiny black bikini bottoms. Hey, Tony Stark played, and when he lost he paid. Simple as that.

Obeying her summons, Tony headed towards the bed.

"Wait!" she commanded, holding up a hand before turning and crawling towards the head of the bed and pushing the comforter down.

And that was another sight to behold. It was for times like that that Tony was glad that all his security cameras were high definition.

"I want you to be very comfortable while we play," she told him, looking back and taking in what he knew had to be a 'gob smacked' look on his face. She wrinkled up her nose in such an adorable way, a picture of it should have been on a fucking Hallmark Greeting card.

It only took a minute for her to remove the soft plush red and grey chevron patterned comforter, folding it in half and draping it over the hard metal headboard before piling few pillows in front of it.

She rolled her eyes a bit when he winked at her and went back to rearranging the bedding to her satisfaction, but he'd seen the shy smile that had spread across her face when she snuck another peek at him.

"Come here bright boy," She cooed, pointing to a spot on the bed in front of her.

Okay, while he wasn't too keen on the nickname, Tony definitely liked everything else he was looking at.

Kneeling on the spot she had indicated, Tony placed his arms over her shoulders while Lyra worked on the knot of his now ruined tie. She'd have had an easier time of it if Tony hadn't slid his hands down and pulled their hips together and grinding into her.

Her tsking and tching became interspersed with a few muttered, 'Hold still's and 'Stop that Tony's as he peppered her forehead and temples with tiny kisses while he continued rubbing his cock against her smooth belly.

Despite his 'help', Lyra finally managed to work the knot loose. Pulling the mangled tie from his hips and tossing it to the floor, her soft hands slid down his backside pushing his silky boxers down until they also dropped to the floor. With perhaps a bit of shifting on his part.

"You know, you seem so ready, maybe I need to join you," She whispered into the hollow of his throat while guiding him to recline on the nest of pillows that she had prepared for him.

"Oh I am definitely up for you joining me." Tony told her as he laid back finding the angle perfect for viewing.

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As always comments and reviews are greatly appreciated.

**If you aren't a comment or review kind of person then Favs and Follows would be wonderful.**

They all help the story placement on the search engine. Many thanks to my faithful commenters and of course to all that have Fav'd and Followed in the past.

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Beta'd by the wonderful** Summerlove_jls. **Many, many thanks for your assistance.

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**TRIGGER WARNINGS** – **TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS -TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS**

**This chapter will *allude to * - Mature Subject Matter and F/M sex. If this is a problem for you please don't read it. Most of it will not be graphic except maybe the smut if I can manage it, but some areas could get trigger-y for people sensitive on that topic. **

**Please DO NOT READ if you will have issues with any of these items.**

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I don't own the Avengers or Thor, they are the property of Marvel and Disney, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.


	11. Chapter 11 - Tony has a plan

**Chapter Summary** - Yes. Well... Um. Smut. Not perhaps particularly well written, but it was requested. Possibly not exactly this version... but I did hear many screams in Queens Grace that the smut was lacking. Enjoy.

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Beta'd by the wonderful Stella! Can we all thank the techno gods for a fourteen hour time difference?

(oh... and let me know if the mental picture you got from my description was anywhere near the reality. I really would like to know.

If you want a visual for this I posted a sketchy thing on my tumblr page yesterday, post/103327793463/anthony-of-asgard-beatrice-viators-outfit. Or go to my Ao3 posting and get the links, I'd give you here but fanfic is crappy about not allowing them.

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**TRIGGER WARNINGS IN END NOTES PLEASE READ IF YOU MIGHT HAVE A PROMBLEM WITH CERTAIN SUBJECT MATTER. **

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

**Chapter 11 – Tony has a plan **

As Tony made himself comfortable, Lyra laughed, her warm breath tickling his neck. Without sitting up, she shifted until she was straddling Tony's right leg.

Which, don't get him wrong, was very nice. But rather than having her knee between his legs nudging teasingly against his balls… He really wished she was straddling his lap and, maybe, rolling those luscious hips of hers against his cock. He tried to guide her fully onto his lap but she ignored him and instead, started shifting her hips tauntingly back and forth on his thigh.

_Fuck. _

Not getting anywhere in his attempts to reposition her, Tony let his hand slide up so he could palm her pert little breasts. His thumbs softly circled her areola, occasionally brushing across her nipples, until they became pebbled.

Lyra continued rock slowly back and forth on Tony's leg, sighing contentedly as she sank down on his chest. Tony's hands drifted over her back while she made tiny noises of contentment. Winding one her arms around his neck she pressed the other one against his chest brushing her thumb lightly across his nipple.

Tipping her head back, Lyra pressed a few kisses playfully against the corner of his mouth while Tony ran his hands down the smooth skin of her back, nestling his questing fingers inside her tiny bikini bottoms. He started stroking hersides and kneading her ass while she rolled her hips with appreciative little murmurs, riding him contentedly for several long minutes. And if he shifted his positon to increase the friction of her silky leg against his cock… Well… No harm no foul as far as he was concerned.

With Lyra spread across his chest, they kissed, tiny nibbles, spirited battles for dominance and long deep kisses that left them both breathless. While nosing damp tendrils off her forehead Tony noticed how wet and reddened her lips had become.

_The unfocused debauched look totally works for her, _he couldn't help but think before his attention was recalled by an extra little rotation in her strokescausing her to let loose a low moan that Tony thought for a minute he was going to cause him to totally lose his fucking mind. Afterwards, he realised he'd started his own hips rolling in sync with hers to increase the friction. Occasionally she shivered, bore down hard and did that rotation thing with her hips.

_And fuck if that didn't feel really, really good_.

It also caused Tony's hands to tighten involuntarily on her ass while he popped off a quick prayer to the patron saint of playboys. Not that he was worried that her squirming on top of him like a cat in heat was going to be a problem or anything.

_Okay, fine. _

The squirming thing was worrisome. Tony was way too old to have the self-control of a teen-ager getting their first piece. He had a reputation to maintain damn it.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Pixie sat up to look at him, her eyes half-lidded, and a little curve of satisfaction on her now red lips. She pulled his hands off of her, guiding them to either side of his head. Leaning over him, her fingers intertwined with his, she rutted against his juice slicked leg, while her breath hitched and her eyes fluttered almost closed. Watching her lightly bite her lower lip in concentration, Tony fought hard to hold it together.

He was Tony Fucking Stark and he did not get excited at the sight of some chick creaming herself while she rubbed up against him. Not even when she dipped her head down to kiss him, her hot breath tickling the shell of his ear.

"I wonTony. That means I get to tease and torture you for as long as I want to." A particularly hard rotation had her thighs tightening momentarily around his leg as she shuddered and continued shakily, "You keep your hands right here until I tell you to move them." She flicked her tongue out, tasting him right below his goatee, and whispered, "Do you understand?"

Rolling his eyes, he lightly bumped his face against hers. "Fine. You won; you're in the driver's seat."

Untangling their hands, she rubbed both thumbs against the outline of his goatee, flicking them across the outline of his moist lower lip, before tracing down to his chin. "That' right, Tony, and don't you ever."

_Kiss_

"Ever."

_Kiss_

"Forget that," She whispered, scattering a few more soft kisses to across his face, temples and lips. She finished up with a gentle nip to his jaw line before lifting off of him and removing those ridiculous panties of hers.

She tossed the tiny scrap of silk to the floor, and finally swung her leg the rest of the way over him.

_Thank you god of fornication_, Tony thought fervently.

As Lyra sat right _'behind' _his twitching cock, Tony bit back a groan of frustration.

Using the fingers of her right hand, Lyra lightly brushed up and down his length. Irritated, Tony huffed and twisted his hands into the pillow beneath his head to keep from grabbing her.

He groused to himself, _how the fuck is this my life that I lose a bet like this to a goth Tinker Bell?_

Right now, there was nothing in the world the playboy wanted to do more than to pull Pixie Chick tight up against him, roll her fine ass over and bury himself balls deep into her body.

While he didn't do that…Yet. He did stretch to the side, flailing a bit as he struggled to get a condom and tube of lube out of the top drawer of his night stand.

"You know," Tony husked, watching her with half closed eyes as she teased his dripping cock with her fingers. "You're not being very friendly."

"Hmmm?" She murmured lazily, continuing to spread pre-cum over the head of his cock. After a few more moments of teasing, she moved up and sat on top its length. She started rocking back and forth again, cock sliding between her hot wet folds, lazy green eyes watching him in amusement while she traced her lower lip with two forefingers.

_Oh fuck yeah, this was better. _

Tony wasn't sure which was hotter, her languidly sliding back and forth over his cock, slicking it up with her juices or her teasingly licking and sucking her fingers while watching him with hooded eyes.

"Not friendly? Me?" Her tone inquiring and amused at the same time. She ran wet fingers down her chin while doing a hip roll that caused him to whine like a puppy. Her hands ghosting up his chest, languorously running her fingers down to his belly and back again. "You wanted to spank me. How friendly was that?"

Tony yelped, arching off the bed in surprise, his left nipple having just been pinched hard before she ran her nails down his side, digging in deep enough to get his full attention.

"Tony?" Lyra tucked her chin against her chest. Her eyes glittering, she peered at him through her thick bangs before her hand darted up, surprising him yet again with how hard she pinched his other nipple.

"Hey!"

Tony Stark did not yip. No matter what that noise sounded like, it was not a yip. If anything it was a very manly yelp. He did however, mock glare as the little bundle of joy riding his lap smiled down at him. Her eyebrows raised in amusement as she, gently **this time**, rubbed his abused nipples.

Okay… So that was not a look he would have expected to see on her. Honestly, he'd pegged Lyra as a goth flavored version of those Little Pink Kitten babes, the ones he'd known when he went through his Asian phase. And yes, he was well aware of the shops that catered to those little cuties, having had to replace more than one pair of satin bow topped white hose and tiny beribboned panty sets.

For all, she dressed like a goth version of the Hello Kitty brigade, Pixie apparently had far sharper claws than her paler hued sisters.

"Holy shit!" He screamed.

Forcibly recalled from his musings, Tony latched onto the pillow beneath his head, fighting not to slap her. The bitch had just pinched him about three inches below his belly button. There was almost certainly going to be a fucking bruise there come morning.

"What the hell was that?" He demanded because to his mind that last one definitely wasn't friendly.

She laughed, and if he had to put a name to it, the grin he received was more tiger-woman than kitten babe. Undeterred by the display of her oh so sharp looking teeth, he continued his complaint, "And can I just say, for the record, you riding '_on top'_ of my cock is very unfriendly."

Lifting both brows, Lyra rolled her sweet little ass a few more times, her wet, kiss bruised lips parting to let out a few teasing moans while keeping her gaze locked to his.

"Pixie." He warned.

This time, a full on pout was directed Tony's way. However, while still ignoring the condom; she did reach down to flip the lube open, and squirted a generous amount into her palm. Patty-caking her hands together so they both had lube, she rose up onto her knees and then reached down with a lopsided grin, firmly pumping his cock several times with her slick left hand.

Tony automatically arched up into her hand as much as he could with her sitting on him. "Holy cr- Warn a guy will ya?"

His eyes almost crossed as he hastily concentrated on the current stock price of Stark Industries.

Holding his length upright against her folds, Lyra pressed against him while firmly stoking the sensitive skin on the topside of his slick cock. He couldn't help but groan and rockenthusiastically in time with her movements.

_Apparently too enthusiastically as far as Pixie Chick was concerned_.

"I do so love the noises you make Tony" she purred. "But it's far too soon I think," Lyra said, lifting up and releasing his length. "Besides, I want you to watch me."

Whining in protest when she removed her hand, it took a moment for Tony to actually understand what she had said, because he had been out there quite a ways. In fact he had to blink owlishly a few times before he could get his eyes to even focus.

"I want you to see me come apart for you." She breathed watching him from half closed eyes. Once she was sure he was actually paying attention, she used the hand that was still lubed to stroke her folds, shivering a bit as she rubbed her clit. Gently tweaking her nipples with the fingers of one hand, she rocked her damp opening back and forth against the other, occasionally dropping down to grind hard against Tony's cock for a stroke or two.

"Oh yes," She whispered, the tip of her tongue flicking out a moment before she caught her lower lip between her teeth. A blush of excitement rose up, delicately tinting her features. Sweat started to bead her hairline and Lyra's eyes fluttered almost closed as she started applying a bit more pressure to both the fingers teasing her nipples and the ones buried between her legs. After several long stokes, her breath hitched and she quickly rose up off his lap.

Stifling a whine, Tony decided bet or no bet; this was so not going to happen. He fucking wanted to cum and he would be damned if she was cumming without him. Reaching out, he grabbed Pixie's hips and pressed her down hard against him while he stroked up.

She gasped.

"Oh!"

He did it again.

"Ohhhhh yesssss."

_Damn straight it was an 'oh yes',_ Tony thought thrusting up again almost savagely. He might not have been able to catch a goth princess playing flag football in his kitchen, but he could sure as hell make her moan like a porn star in his bedroom. He was a fucking billionaire playboy after all.

Catching her lower lip, brows knit in concentration, Lyra's movements becoming firmer and less teasing. Each long sweeping stroke against his cock ended in a hip roll that caused a shiver to run down her. Even though she was just riding on top of him, he could feel her folds start to contracted with each gasp that escaped her lips.

"Please," She moaned piteously, rolling her hips harder as he pulled her down against him. The increased friction caused an increasingly louder litany of 'Please', 'Oh Tony' and 'Tony pleases' to tumble from her lips. The fingers that had been teasing her nipples fluttered uncertainly a moment before she melted onto his chest, snaking her hand to his cheek, turning his face towards hers.

He plundered her unresisting mouth while reaching blindly for that damn tube of lube. Years of practice allowed Tony to flip it open one handedly. And if he got more lube on the bed than he did in his hand, he really fucking didn't care at this point.

Shoving his hand between them, he pressed up against her, making sure to get plenty of lube on her clit before spreading the rest down her folds and around his cock.

"Come on babe, let me see you ride my hand." He demanded, working the knuckle of his thumb against her clit while pressing against her up into her as much as he could at this angle.

And she did. Ride him. Lyra was vocalizing louder with each stroke until the hand on her back slid up enough for him to twist it into her hair.

Turning her head so he could kiss her, he covered her mouth with his, swallowing her increasingly sharp cries.

Which Tony was, of course, encouraging by rocking up against her as hard as he could. His own breathing hitching when she pressed down against him with increasing sporadic movement of her hips.

She was close, he could feel her muscles contracting. He let go of her hair and Lyra lost no time in wrenching her mouth from his, burying her face against his neck.

Her shuddering breaths were interspersed with almost incoherent cries of 'Please', 'Tony', and 'Oh gods, please' were driving him almost crazy as and the friction against his cock was. Tony was so close to his own edge he needed to do something, anything, to make her come.

He brought his hand down in a sharp slap on her ass.

"STARK!" She screamed, throwing her head back. Her pelvis bucked hard, her movements became hard and shallow, and her breath caught in little sobs.

When she was half way through a sequence of increasingly intense 'Pleases' and 'Oh gods', he slapped her once more. Screaming shrilly into his neck, Lyra stiffened for a long moment and then dropped bonelessly across his chest while tremors raced up and down her skin.

Shifting his grip to his cock, it only took another dozen or so strokes before He came with a hoarse cry of his own. Hot seed spurted between his fingers, coating both their bellies.

Groaning, Tony waited for his own breathing to slow down _Next go round,_ he promised himself, _she wasn't riding the fucking top of it. Next time he was going to bury himself balls deep in her while he plowed her into the mattress. _

OoooO

That was the plan anyhow. And it was a good plan; unfortunately it just didn't work out that way.

As Tony's heart rate finally wound down, he became aware that the tiny gasps and shudders his partner was still putting out didn't seem to be trailing off.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, a slight frown creasing his brow, he turned his head nudging tousled dark hair with his chin.

"Pixie?"

Rather than answering him, Lyra took and held a deep breath, but the shaking increased, until apparently she couldn't hold her breath any longer.

_Okay. That was definitely a sob. _

The half pants and stifled cries of his partner, that he had been only vaguely aware of while he chased his own orgasm, had turned into full on sobs. That dampness he'd been feeling? Wasn't sweat as he had vaguely supposed, it was instead tears slipping down the side of his neck.

"Shhhhh," Tony whispered into her trembling hair, rubbing comforting circles across the small of her back.

Groaning internally, because fuck knows he did not feel like moving just yet, Tony rolled them both to the side, ducking his head down to peer momentarily at her tear streaked face before it was buried into a pillow.

"Sweetie, what's wrong? I didn't hurt you, did I?" Tony asked apprehensively while continuing to rub her back. He couldn't for the life of him imagine how he could have. However, there was still the possibility that perhaps his fingernails hadn't been short enough, or that he hadn't used enough lube, or that he'd done something that she hadn't immediately registered as painful while her excitement was peaking. Not that he thought any of those things were likely…

Lyra took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before he heard a tiny muffled wail that sounded very much like 'no'.

"So, you're okay?"

This didn't get him an answer, just a head shake to indicate that Tony wasn't a complete moron and he had correctly interpreted her one word answer.

"So you're crying because?"

Tony wasn't really as fluent in 'Pillow Muffled' as Jarvis was, but between the sobs and hiccups he was finally able to piece together enough fragments to be reassured that he hadn't hurt Pixie, and that she was merely overwhelmed, embarrassed, never taking that pillow off of her face, and hadn't experience anything that felt that good in a very, very long time.

While he didn't stop giving the shivering Lyra comforting hugs and consoling pats, He'd be lying if he said that last bit wasn't making him grin from ear to ear. Fortunately, Pixie had wiggled around until she faced away from him so he didn't even have to worry about hiding it. There were two ways to reduce a woman to tears after sex… And from the look of surprised ecstasy on her face when she came and the intensity of the aftershocks she'd experienced, Tony was pretty sure it wasn't because she was unfulfilled and frustrated.

_Yes, he was just that good_.

Rolling on his back for a moment, Tony groaned and fumbled around until he came up with a handful of handkerchiefs from the night stand. Not that he carried the damn things around with him or anything. But he had found them to be a lot more useful after sex than a wad of flimsy tissues or someone having to get up right away and get a washcloth. He wiped himself off and used another to gently clean Pixie's tummy and what nether regions he could easily reach, tossing both on the floor behind him when he was finished.

Curling again against his trembling partner's back, Tony buried his face in her hair after folding one last handkerchief into fingers that had a death grip on the pillow covering her face. Mumbling comforting little nothings while gently stroking her now clean belly, Tony zoned out, eventually falling asleep.

He woke up with one very damp pillow beside him, and one very used handkerchief on the opposing night stand.

OoooO

It had been a really long year, and Tony was glad it was almost over. Feeling almost mellow, Tony contemplated this year's upcoming festivities. He'd been so lucky the last two Christmas parties, he was pretty sure that his luck wouldn't hold up for a third. While not something he normally did, Tony decided that maybe this year he should take out some insurance.

"Hey Jarvis, do me a favor. Look up the tapes from last year's party and find me contact info for the Cosplay Princess, will ya?"

So maybe that evening hadn't gone quite as he planned, but she had been such a bundle of fun and games that Tony did regret that they'd never made it to round two. Not that he was getting old or anything, it was just that by the time he had got done soothing her crying jag, he'd been so bonelessly relaxed himself that he'd fallen asleep.

_Still, it had been an interesting evening,_ he thought, smiling to himself.

Several hours later, he was dealing with a flurry of emails from a particularly annoying senior researcher questioning, as in disputing, charges that Tony had slapped on his project code for a fix he'd done.

"Sir? I am sorry to inform you that I can't find any contact information for Ms. Walker."

Jarvis's voice sounded not only apologetic but also more than slightly embarrassed.

Frowning, Tony hit the send button, firing off a bit of frankly snarky advice consisting of what a research group needed to do if they didn't want to get hit with charges for his time on their future projects. Then, with brows furrowed, he set his tablet down on the work bench in front of him, leaning back in his chair.

"Seriously, Jay?" He asked rolling his shoulders to loosen them up.

"I'm afraid so, sir. While it is not outside the realm of possibilities that I cannot find the current whereabouts of someone determined to remain hidden, I do find it odd that I have not even found any early electronic records or indeed any social media postings that match her description."

Okay, that was odd. Someone of Pixie Chick's age had to have some type of electronic presence. Even if they were just blurry Instagram pictures from some high school party she attended as a kid.

"I have, of course, found several Lyra Walkers, including a few who were amazingly enough as you put it, 'Cosplay princesses', but again, none of them match Ms. Walker physical description."

"That's a bit odd, wouldn't you say, Jay? Considering all the databases you have access to?"

"Indeed sir, most odd. Would you like me to keep looking?" Jarvis inquired.

Tony twirled his chair around while he considered what he wanted to do. "Yeah… I guess so, just passive though, don't devote a lot of time to it. Still, if she wasn't who she said she was, it would be nice to find out _what_ she actually is." Industrial spy or freelance writer being Tony's first guess, but since nothing had been printed about him, nor had Stark International had any strange info leaks that hadn't already been traced back to one source or another, that wasn't even looking too likely.

While it seldom happened, it was wrong to say that Tony never slept with the same woman twice. _'Almost never'_ would be more correct. So Tony temporarily shelved his curiosity as to who Lyra Walker was. Since she wasn't available, he decided to back up a Christmas and contact that Sky chick. He'd liked her too. Amazingly so, or he wouldn't have remembered even her name after all this time.

"Of course, with a last name like Jones, it might take a while to find her Jay, but we have time."

"'_Smith_' Sir, and I will start immediately."

Several days later when Jarvis also came up blank on Sky Smith, Tony knew something was wrong.

Possibly SWORD or someone was slipping agents into his bed again… This had regretfully happened more than once in the past, but the Christmas chicks didn't feel like agents. Pixie was too quirky for someone bent on professional seduction, Sky too bossy for someone who was required to captivate him.

"This is statistically impossible Jarvis."

"Unfortunately sir, math equations aside-,"

"Yeah, yeah. It did occur. Twice. In a row even. I can't even begin to calculate the odds." Shrugging, he rolled his eyes and mugged for Jarvis' the camera. "Well obviously _I_ can, genius and all that, but still."

Tony bounded over to his table of broken or half-built toys and snatched up the first thing that caught his eye. There wasn't anything important here, but that didn't really matter. He just needed something to tinker with while he brainstormed.

"Jarvis, open up a new folder. We have a project."

"Very good sir, what name will we be using?" Jarvis asked amused.

"Christmas Pressies."

"I'm sorry sir, but you already have a folder with that name."

"Oh. Right. Umm…" Tony cast his thoughts about for a new name, eyes glancing around looking for inspiration. The 'bot charging station was festooned with an odd collection of decorations that Minion had _'relocated'_ from the penthouse, apparently at the request of Dummy and You. "How about '_Mistletoe Princesses'_?" he suggested while clearing off a work table and assembling several tools.

"Festive and appropriate, Sir."

"I know. Okay. Gather up all the pictures you can find, any video that might be left on the general tower security servers, and see who they arrived with, oh, and see if our neighbors have any saved feed. Maybe we can catch a cab number and track down where they picked up their fare or something.

Side by side photo comparisons showed that they were definitely two different women, one was tall and lean, the other short and curvy. But as dissimilar as their height and build were, quite a few other things were matching up. Both women were athletic, brunettes, had strongly sculpted facial structure, green eyes… Sort of, Sky's being a blue green hazel. Sky had been pretty strong for a chick and Lyra was ninja fast, but their above average physical attributes, notwithstanding Tony had been struck by how many mannerism's they shared once they became comfortable with him and were away from the crowds. Certain ways they moved, some of the expressions that flashed across their faces. Even the way they dressed, simple lines and thick collars around their throats.

About fifteen hours later, Tony was about half finished fixing the mini Electromagnetic Rail Gun prototype and Jarvis had amassed an impressive amount of information, not one bit of it older than ten minutes before internal security vids showed either woman in the building. "Jarvis, bring up anything you can find for after they left the tower will ya?"

Interestingly enough he noticed that not one bit of information that Jarvis showed him was from a source that Tony hadn't specifically mentioned or requested. Normally the smug bastard tried to bury Tony with info from places that Tony would never even think to look.

Scowling thoughtfully Tony glared at the far wall._ Me thinkth that Jay's binary code now has a two in it. _

"Jarvis," Tony drawled, "Is there maybe something about this project you want to share with the class?" Tony was curious to see if his AI was going to evade his questions or try outright lying.

"Certainly not, sir."

"Okaaaaay. It's just that, and please correct me if I'm wrong here, you don't seem to be your normal helpful self today."

"I most strongly disagree, sir."

Shaking his head in amazement, Tony set down his tools, amused skepticism plastered across his features. "Really? Well, I couldn't help but notice that you haven't suggested even one avenue that we should look into nor have you proposed a single theory." Tony pursed his lips before he settled his features into an over the top look of intense interest. "That is totally not you Jay. Anyhow, I would really love to hear your thoughts on who these two lovely ladies might be."

"As I have told you, I have not been able to find any records on Ms. Smith or Ms. Walker in any of the databases I have accessed."

Smiling to himself, Tony decided to go get a cup of coffee from the auto-dispenser in the lab's kitchen area. "Yeah. You did mention that, but what I want to know is if '_you_' have any idea who they might be, based on information that is not in any of the databases you searched."

There was a short pause before Jarvis responded, short that was for a human, but an eternity for Jarvis. "I am afraid I am unable to speculate on their identity, sir." He said, almost apologetically.

A wicked grin flashed across Tony's face. "Are you really now? So let's just recap, shall we? 'Sky' and 'Lyra' look nothing alike but share an impressive array of similarities, we can't find any background information on them at all, they almost magically appeared ten minutes before they entered the tower, and we have no information on where they went ten minutes after they left the building, nor have we been able to find out how they even gained entry to the parties."

"A masterful summary on your part, if I may say so Sir."

"So I can't get to you speculate? Not even a little."

"I'm afraid not, sir."

Pursing his lips thoughtfully, Tony came up with a plan.

"Okay, this year I want you to keep an eye on Steve. If he starts dancing or talking to anyone we don't have information on, I want you to run a check on them. If they come up blank, let me know immediately." Tony could almost hear Jarvis sigh.

"As you wish, sir."

"Also, tomorrow, remind me I want to order a few things for the back closet. Best to be prepared you know."

It wasn't necessary for his plan, but Tony decided to see what would happen if Tony ignored any mystery woman that fluttered around Steve this year. And what would happen if he ignored them in favor of someone else. Since the odds were pretty high that he would be pissing off a vindictive god, Tony decided to make sure his eye candy was someone he despised.

"Jarvis, make sure Christine Everhart somehow gets a last minute invitation to the party. Give an invite to one of the more discreet interns she's been bugging and get them to invite her on the down low as a plus one or something."

"Very good Sir, I know just who to approach for this task."

"Wonderful, I don't know about you Jay, but I am positively looking forward to this year's party."

OoooO

"Sir, Ms. Everheart will not be returning."

Tapping the communication stud on his bracelet once in acknowledgement, Tony continued to smile as Terrance Wilkes, one of his senior engineers, tried to make nice. So Tony chuckled, made small talk and listened to a quick rundown of the strengths that these two new employees were bringing to the company. While he frankly doubted that Wilkes really gave a shit, him making a couple of newbie engineers feel included at their first major company event, was a welcome change from how the man had previously treated his departments employees.

_So hey. Sensitivity classes, coupled with the very real threat of being fired and blacklisted, actually worked. Who knew? Other than Stark International's head of H.R., of course._

As soon as he could, Tony eased towards a secluded corner so he could check the security feed Jarvis pushed to his phone. Momentarily, he'd been alarmed when Jarvis alerted him that Beatrice Viator, Rogers' new friend, had slipped away from her group to follow Christine to the ladies room. Granted he had expected it to happen, but if Beatrice _'was'_ Loki, things could get messy in a hurry. Fortunately, before he could get too worked up, he remembered that Jarvis was watching… And it wasn't like anyone undeserving of punishment would be in the line of fire. Not that he really wished the muckraking reporter any real harm. However, he did know he would be totally fine with what ever happened as long as Christine escaped without any permanent damage. Besides, with Jarvis monitoring, it wasn't like she was in any real danger.

The entire take down was as smooth an operation as anything Natasha could have come up with. Somehow, someone accidently stumbled, bumping an innocent passerby into Christine, who knocked the reporter off balance, while stepping on the hem of her long flowing gown. Tony watched as the combination of actions resulted in the skirt of Christine's dress being almost completely ripped off. Fortunately, the reporter had been wearing underwear. Unfortunately, the dress did not have any kind of an underskirt built into it. Christine ended up having to wrap the torn material around her like a sarong. She made a quick escape out one of the side doors before anyone could post a clip on YouTube. Not so surprisingly, the extremely apologetic, innocent passerby that caused all the damage, was none other than Grandpa Spangles' new friend.

OoooO

"Steve. How's it going, buddy? Enjoying yourself?" Tony's smile faltered in the face of Rogers' patented _'I am so disappointed'_ look. "What?" Tony demanded. "What did I do now?"

Looking quite dashing if slightly uncomfortable in his suit, Steve shook his head and indicated the glass the industrialist was holding. "Tony, do you think it's wise to be spending so much time with Ms. Everhart? Especially when you're drinking? She isn't exactly a fan of ours, you know."

"Relax, Steve, it will be fine. Besides, I think she's already left." Switching his drink to his other hand, he reached out, "Hi. Tony Stark. I hope you're enjoying my party."

With a wide smile and warm hazel brown eyes crinkling in sly amusement, a slim hand was held out to him. They shook.

"I'm glad to make your acquaintance, Mister Stark, I'm BeatriceViator. You know, Captain Rogers here has spoken very highly of you."

"He has?" Tony asked, looking over the short, slender brunette in front of him. She was wearing a tight black velvet cocktail dress, strapless with a beaded choker collar that fastened to double straps in the back. The choker and bodice of the dress were decorated with intricate but understated black beading. Even with the matching beaded high heels, she was still a few inches shorter than Tony. He chuckled, flicking his eyes over towards Steve for a moment. "Now why do I find that hard to believe?"

It wasn't too long afterwards that he was able to detach _'Bea' _from Stars-and-Stripes' orbit, and eventually convince her to come back to his tower and play dress up with him.

_Big surprise there huh? _

He managed to get her into an Ironette outfit, which as he knew she would, she looked hot as fuck in. Tony was not the least bit surprised when Bea negotiated a scenario where she was not a backup dancer, but was instead _'Iron Lady' and h_e was the dastardly evil industrialist whose plan at world domination she foiled at the last moment.

While Tony often disagreed with Pepper it turned out she was right; having a formal office up in the penthouse did come in handy. Especially when you wanted to correlate data while getting your brains sucked out through your dick.

Tony often thought fondly of that session. Not only for the fun he'd had as Loki had adlibbed dialog and positions, but also for the insight it gave him as to how the god's mind worked. Over the course of the next couple of years, Tony developed a behavior model for _'Loki of Asgard'_ in the areas that he obviously couldn't explore while the god lived, or rather, was imprisoned, in his tower.

Female Loki's outfits always had a submissive touch, if she wasn't wearing a collar or choker, she was wearing cuffs of some sort. Male Loki more often than not had a scarf wrapped around his neck, or at least draped around it, yet when push came to shove, Loki was anything but submissive. Not unlike Tony, either gender of Loki had a tendency to be fairly bossy when it came to getting what they wanted.

There was no situation where he or she would not try to make a deal. Even if it was only for who got their rocks off first. Reflexive negotiation was almost a given where his god was concerned. But to give him his due, Loki did honor his deals.

Additionally, he was like a fricking cat, and a feral one at that. Starved for affection, Loki would only accept it on his terms, clawing the shit out of you if you stepped one toe over the boundary of what he offered. Except when he was really soundly asleep. Then you could do anything you wanted, and the god would all but offer up his tummy and purr. The trick there of course correctly judge if he was sleeping deeply enough for you to even start without being eviscerated.

And finally, Loki had some really, really fucking weird hang-ups when it came to doing the actual deed. After several years of carefully artful inquiry, Tony concluded this was due in general to Asgardian views on submission during sex, how magic users were regarded, and a really strong prohibition to royal bastards weaseling their way into the succession. Add that to Loki's own determination to limit his vulnerability and you had one seriously fucked up godling.

And that, Tony thought was how they got here. Him bent over a couch, and not in the fun way, with green eyes glaring menacingly down at him. Suspiciously glistening green eyes, Tony noticed. He might could work with that.

Loki snarled wordlessly, all but yanking the hair from the back of Tony's head as he pulled him further down towards the seat of the couch.

Tony knew exactly how they ended up here with Loki all angry and lashing out. Now that he considered it, a Norse god trying to kill you being remarkably effective at sharpening one's thought processes, he was pretty sure he saw a way out for them.

_Of course, there was no way this was going to end with either of them walking away unscathed. _Tony knew that.

But as the pressure increased on his throat, he knew that just being able to walk away at all was a lot to hope for.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

As always comments and reviews are greatly appreciated.

**If you aren't a comment or review kind of person then Favs and Follows would be wonderful.**

They all help the story placement on the search engine. Many thanks to my faithful commenters and of course to all that have Fav'd and Followed in the past.

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Beta'd by the wonderful** Stella **Many, many thanks for your assistance.

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**TRIGGER WARNINGS** – **TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS -TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS**

**This chapter will *contain* - Mature Subject Matter and F/M sex. If this is a problem for you please don't read it. Most of it will not be graphic except maybe the smut if I can manage it, but some areas could get trigger-y for people sensitive on that topic. **

**Please DO NOT READ if you will have issues with any of these items.**

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I don't own the Avengers or Thor, they are the property of Marvel and Disney, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.


	12. Chapter 12 - Tony Tossing

**Chapter Summary** - Tony's attempts at soothing an enraged god of mischief reveal an uncomfortable truth. Yes. So. We are back to present time. I do hope you all enjoyed our little foray into the past. Well except for the cliff hanger and what not. Chapter 14 is done and beta'd but I am still trying to decide if Loki is going to chill or go ballistic on Tony.

**Your thoughts and reasoning for one or the other would be most appreciated**.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

Beta'd by the wonderful Stella! Can we all thank the techno gods for a fourteen hour time difference?

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**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

**TRIGGER WARNINGS IN END NOTES PLEASE READ IF YOU MIGHT HAVE A PROMBLEM WITH CERTAIN SUBJECT MATTER. - None really in this chapter.**

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

**Chapter 12 - Tony Tossing**

"How does it feel, Stark?" The god growled into his ear, causing a shiver composed of equal parts of fear, desire and anxiety to thrill through Tony's body. "How does it feel not to be in control of what happens to you?"

"Sir?" Jarvis called out, alarm tinging his voice.

Jarvis calling in reinforcements would certainly cause the situation to escalate and that is absolutely the last thing Tony wants or needs. "I got it Jarvis," He wheezed as best he could with the weight of an angry god compressing his lungs.

"Are you sure Sir, I could call-"

"Mute, Jarvis. I'm on top of it."

"Are you, really, Stark?" The god snarled. Loki's forearm, which had been pressing down on Tony's chest, slid up to apply a bit of pressure to his throat, the other gripping the hair at the back of Tony's skull, pulling his head back an angle. "Let's just see about that."

Squirming would get him nowhere, even if he could make up his mind if he wanted to escape or just get in a position with a bit more leverage. Hell, he couldn't even decide what kind of leverage he would go for? His back was killing him, but then certain other parts of his body were also demanding attention.

"That being on top thing was rhetorical, of course." Tony wheezed, that being about all he could do with an entire god pressing down on him. "If we're talking physically, I just want you to know '_I am'_ willing to bottom on occasion—"

_Yurk—_

Somewhere, fleetingly, in the back of Tony's mind, he had hoped that his off-handed offer of turnabout might show Loki that he was willing to continue working with him on his Asgardian… Inhibitions. Which his god had already pretty much rebelled against anyhow, 'cause despite his hang-ups, Loki did like sex. Loki liked sex like seventeen year old guys like sex, hot, heavy, now and more please. And from past information Lo had let slip, he'd spent centuries quietly rebelling against that stupid Asgardian anti-egri mindset. Not that that had come as a surprise to Tony. He had noticed during their clubbing phase that Loki had an equally keen eye for pretty guys.

A wave of anger and irritation swept over Tony so intense it bewildered him a moment.

Yeah, so maybe he wasn't okay remembering that hot Greek model who'd slung his arm around Loki.

_Best not to dwell on that particular memory,_ Tony told himself sternly. Hell, the amount of anger that mental image caused never ceased to completely piss the playboy off, which it shouldn't have since it wasn't like he and Loki were even an item then. Item or not, hot and gorgeous times two or not, even at that time there was no way he would have consented to sharing Lo with another guy. Fuck, before it had been over, he'd was borderline jealous of the females the god had picked up and brought home.

_But we are not going there. _

Lo liked sex and he liked guys as well as women, no problem there with Tony not being a chick. Tony was momentarily diverted into wondering if the Trickster '_like_' liked girls the way Tony did, or if he liked them because he was expected to? Or more probably, he decided, it was because in Loki's long life, he'd had time to try lots of fun things. Tony made a mental note to put visiting 'Elf Land' on his to-do list. At any rate, Loki's sticking probably had nothing to do with Tony being a guy, but more to do with Odin's fucking all-seeing throne, those damn nosy ravens, and Heimdall the God of All Peeping Toms. Which Tony supposed made sense, because no matter how much an exhibitionist Lo was when he was pranking someone… And Tony had been on the mild side of the god's love for that… It must be impossible to truly get your freak on, knowing your step-father, his winged snitches, or the family's creepy uncle, was possibly watching everything you did.

_I need to see if we can jam them somehow._ Fuck, if he could foil all the snooping techniques of Earthguard, he could surely do something about magical snooping… especially with a magical expert to assist him. And no, now was not the time to think about how sexy Loki would look barefoot, shirtless and wearing low slung jeans while assisting him in the lab.

Tony tried again to ease the strain on his back and neck, since only his toes were touching the floor, he couldn't even push himself the rest of the way down on the couch. Which left wrapping his legs around Loki's for a bit of leverage. This worked, in as it helped the strain on his back muscles, but didn't help as the pressure and friction caused other areas to become strained.

"Fair is fair after all," he gasped, continuing his thoughts on bottoming while fighting the urge to rub against the angry god as his new position allowed much more pleasant sensations to course through his body.

Okay, the gasping was maybe not totally from having his lungs compressed by the god, or at least not from the weight of the god at any rate. He never should have conjured those mental images of Hot Loki Clubbing and Scantily Clad Loki the Slutty Lab Assistant.

Unfortunately, Tony's errant thoughts, his new positon and the thin material of his dress slacks also announced his body's betrayal to the elemental force holding him down. His body was apparently far less worried about the threat to his life than his mind was.

Green eyes locked on to his, their rage muted slightly by a momentary puzzlement. "Honestly, Stark, I wasn't aware that you enjoy being forced? Is that why you thought I would?"

"Hey, not apologizing here. It's been a while you know," Tony protested only slightly defensively, he's never forced anyone in his life. Except, of course, if they wanted to be forced and then it was okay and completely hot, but that was beside the point right now. "I've been a little too busy worrying about your ass to spend time chasing anyone else's, you know. So maybe, I am a bit crowded. Sue me."

Even though, there should have been nothing sexy about being angrily manhandled over the back of a couch… Tony did have quite a few kinks in his closet and there was a whole lot of hot god pressing up against him, so… He gave a mental shrug. So maybe he was getting a little hard from something that '_shouldn't'_ really be a turn on. What of it? It had been a while, and quite frankly, if he came out of this session a little less crowded then he would think a few bruises well worth the price. Anyhow, it had been years since he'd had angry sex, so he could definitely be up for that even.

And Loki's face was so damn close he just couldn't help himself.

Tony stretched up, letting a pleased sigh escape him as he nuzzled the Trickster's neck, just the fucking smell was enough to make him want to laugh in delight. Eyes fluttering shut, Tony let an involuntary little mewl of happiness escaped him as he planted two very soft kisses, one kiss on Loki's neck and the other right under his ear.

And then opened his eyes to a look up at a somewhat surprised Asgardian.

Astonished. Hungry. Tender. Needful.

Tony's heart leap as all that and more flashed across the Loki's face and then, sank as the masks slipped back into place, banishing those expressions as if they had never been, leaving him with suspicious, angry Asgard Loki.

"Arrrghhhh!" Snarling the god shifted his grip so that he had a double handful of Tony's shirt. Yanking him up off the couch Loki spun them both and before Tony could properly get his feet to support him he was shoved viciously across the room.

Landing on the remains of what had been a fairly expensive side table Tony closed his eyes a moment to rein in his temper. Rolling onto his hands and knees he shot Loki an annoyed look.

"I am not some bought and paid for whore, Stark, and I don't appreciate being drugged!"

"Yeah. Whatever. I'll make a note of that for future reference. However, I just want to point out that drugging is what kept you out of trouble." He snapped, climbing slowly, painfully, to his feet. He might be extremist enhanced and Momma Space Viking improved but the shit still hurt.

"Or should I say, _more_ trouble. You threw a knife at your father for crying out loud!"

Using that gliding sidestep that the god seemed to have patented, Loki stalked towards him.

"He is '_NOT'_ my father!" The god spat beginning to circle menacingly. Tony huffed and did an abbreviated eye roll while backing away from the panther-esk personification of pissed asking himself for what had to be the millionth time, _how was this his life?_

"Not your father?" Tony threw his hands up in disgust, "Okay, so then you threw a knife at the king of everything, which is even worse because you don't get the family discount."

Faster than the eye could follow, Loki darted in and shoved hard, sending Tony once again flying across the room to land in a heap on the hard marble floor. This time, fortunately, he didn't break furniture, or bones, but he did crack his elbow hard as he fell.

Hissing through his teeth in pain, Tony rubbed hurriedly on his arm, trying to will away the pain. "Damn it all to hell Lo! Why are you being so difficult?"

"Because I have nothing to lose, Stark. Including, apparently, the ability to even be aware of what bed I am going to wake up in." The god hissed narrow eyed, curling and uncurling his fingers as he again did that weird feline sidestep of his over towards where Tony had fallen.

"Okaaaay," Tony drawled, shaking his arm to try to get the rid of the pins and needle sensation while warily watching the stalking god. "Admittedly, you were a bit out of it when we left Asgard. I'll give you that one."

Loki's lip curled disdainfully. "Drugged."

"Which, as I already said, was done to keep you from getting into even more trouble. Do I deserve a ration of shit for that? Okay, just for the sake of argument, maybe I deserve some, but Mister Wizard please, do tell, what was _'your'_ grand plan?

"What plan?"

"Exactly, "Tony said, climbing to his feet and turning so as to keep facing Loki as he circled him. "What were you going to do to lessen the impact of your prison term? Or rebuilding project? What ideas did you have for speeding it up? Or, hell, just making it more bearable?"

Tony could almost see steam coming off the god, he was that angry. Fortunately for Tony, Loki was without the majority of his magic mo-jo, because if he hadn't been, the god would have no doubt turned him into a Newt, or Care Bear, or whatever it was that pissed off magic users turned you into, when they were throwing a tantrum. While the engineer, in fact, appreciated that his godling was miffed with good reason… Delicate mental state or not… All this flinging-people-around shit hurt and it was starting to get on his last nerve. So yeah, diplomacy was most likely called for, but since Tony didn't really see that working either, he decided to go for bluntness.

"Come on, big boy."

Tony lifted up his hands, fingers beckoning in a 'bring it on' motion. "Your ideas? Just toss 'em out, because I really want to know what your grand plan was."

Instead of continuing towards him so he could do the whole stalking-circle thing, Loki stopped perhaps ten feet away from Tony. The godling's scowl looking like it was going to morph into a massive pout at any minute.

"You didn't have any, did you?"

Loki's fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white, so Tony spread his arms, and decided ecologists be damned, to throw a little oil on the troubled waters he had to deal with. "Hey. I'm not saying it would have been easy to come with something, what with almost nothing to work with." Unable to help himself Tony gave a little shrug and interjected, "Well, I would have of course, but I'm me. I'm just saying maybe… maybe you could accept a windfall when it comes your way?" He coaxed.

Loki looked dumbstruck, his brows rose almost to his hair line and for a moment, his mouth moved without anything coming out of it. Sadly, all too soon he got ahold of himself.

"I should accept and be grateful?" His voice rising at the end with shocked disbelief. "When I know full well why you did this? You think I should be… grateful?"

"Yeah, I put up a lot of money, and again, this is me talking, but what exactly, beside the companionship of your smart sexy self, what exactly do you think I'm getting out of this? I wasn't exactly in the market for a part time spouse, you know. I did this because I was worried about you."

For the merest instant, the tiniest sliver of time possible to calculate, Loki lit up. Hope blazing so bright across his features Tony should have been wearing burning goggles.

Then, just as quickly, it snuffed out, leaving his god looking devastated. Kid at Christmas who'd run downstairs to find that not only did he not get the game system he'd been hoping for, but that there wasn't even a single present with his name on it, _and_ for that matter, the tree had already been taken down and tossed out on the curb. That kind of devastated. Bereft wasn't a good look for his god. Tony hated it and particularly hated that somehow his words had triggered it.

OoooO

_"Yeah, I put up a lot of money, and again, this is me talking, but what exactly beside the companionship of your smart sexy self, do you think I'm getting out of this? I wasn't exactly in the market for a part time spouse you know. I did this because I was worried for you."_

Tony's words were still floating in the air, when Loki started laughing, a hateful, bitter laugh with just an undercurrent of uncontrollable hysteria creeping into it before it was abruptly cut off.

"I _know_ what you are getting, Stark." The god ground out through gritted teeth, raising his chin Loki looked disdainfully, almost hatefully down his nose at the engineer. "I doubt very much that my 'charms' are more than a minor bonus compared to all else that you are receiving."

_Yeah, this defiantly could be going better. _Tony fought to keep from showing frustration knowing as bad as it might be, it would always be worse.

Releasing his lower lip, Tony told him, "You are not minor anything to me Lo."

Loki started pacing in that sinuous style of his, his fingers twitching in aggravation. If the god had possessed a tail, it surely would have been lashing back and forth in irritation.

"Of course I'm not Stark. I know much better than you how much is it worth to you to have a Master Level Mage at your beck and call. Even with the restrictions Odin is going to place upon me, Midgardian kingdoms of old would have beggared themselves for someone as skilled as I am."

_Okay, but it wasn't like he had done it for that reason. _"Well, but-"

"But not only a mage, also a scholar, a teacher? Someone with detailed knowledge of the Nine Realms and beyond?" Stopping a moment, Loki's lip curled into an ugly grimace as he shot Tony a look of pure disgust. "And what else is it that the great Tony Stark has bought with his coin? Access to the Royal Family? Access to Asgard, and for that matter, the other eight realms that are currently unavailable to virtually every other mortal on your realm?"

All the explanations and excuses that he was considering flew out the window as Tony's brain stuttered to a stop and his mouth dropped open.

"You mean someone else on Earth can reach Asgard?" The engineer asked incredulously. It wasn't that he was ignoring the implications of the other stuff Loki was alluding to…

_But the first person to make it to Asgard in modern times should have been Tony Fucking Stark! _

Loki tch'ed angrily and resumed his pacing.

"Two that I know of, not that the one advertises that he is from Midgard and neither of them dabble in commerce," Loki all but spat, "You, and you alone, will have access to raw materials unavailable to anyone else on Midgard, along with someone who not only knows about them and their properties, but also how to facilitate the purchase and transportation of these items. How much is this worth to you? How much is it worth for Stark International to have access to markets that contain material and technology not only from the nine realms but other galaxies? Technology that can be reverse engineered for the benefit of your company?"

Tony opened his mouth totally prepared to rebut these insinuations, but then swallowed hard stricken by the fact that even if he could lie good enough to fool Loki… Which he totally couldn't, nothing he mentioned wasn't something that Tony hadn't thought about.

Unaware, or, most likely, just uncaring of the mini mental break down Tony was about to have, a scowling Loki continued his tirade, his previously low scornful voice picking up volume and punch now.

"That is what I 'know' you are getting, so please don't think to lie to me by insinuating that it was for the pleasure of my company and the sparkle in my eyes that you have gone to so much trouble and expense. Twice what you paid and more still would not get you even a speck of that without me."

"Okay, I got-"

Abruptly, the god reached out and snatched a heavy lamp off a side table he was passing and fired it so fast at Tony's head that the engineer wasn't completely able to dodge it. The highly polished metal lamp, the fucking heavy highly polished metal lamp struck Tony's flailing arm so hard, he knew it was going to leave a hell of a bruise.

"Oh, and my plan?" Loki snarled, stopping at last so he could give Tony his undivided hatred. "My plan was to endure. With the resources I had at hand balanced against the forces against me. It was the best plan I could come up with. And don't think I didn't spend years trying to come up with something better."

"No."

Eyes as wide as they could go, Loki sucked in a deep breath.

Tony held up his placatingly. "I know you did," he said hastily. "I shouldn't have said it like that. I didn't mean I didn't think you weren't trying to come up with a plan. If anyone could have figured a way out, it would have been you. I meant _'no'_, I didn't think of all those other things like you thought I did." Licking his suddenly too dry lips, Tony noticed that Loki was a lot closer than he'd been a minute ago.

"Tell me truly. You did not consider any of those advantages?"

Small children looking at an unasked for spoonful of cherry colored liquid wouldn't have had a more skeptical expression on their face than Loki did right now. Tony's attempt at a reassuring smile flickered out of existence almost immediately.

"No."

Loki was quite close now, the material of his starched shirt brushing against Tony's shoulder as he circled and stopped behind him. "No?" He asked, purposefully leaning down a bit to breathe the question directly into Tony's ear. Totally causing a shiver to run down the engineer's spine. "So my fair charms were all you considered?"

Tony could feel wisps of Loki's hair brushing against his neck and fuck if he didn't want anything more in the world than to just lean back, right now.

"Umm. Yeah." He muttered, wanted to turn his head but, knowing with the mercurial mood his god was in, he didn't dare.

Again, he could feel wisps of hair feathering across his skin, this time at the back of his neck, as Loki switched to his other ear, standing so close Tony could feel the heat radiating off the god's body.

"Do not," Loki whispered, his lips brushing Tony's ear, and his voice so soft it could barely be heard, "Lie to me."

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

As always comments and reviews are greatly appreciated.

**If you aren't a comment or review kind of person then Favs and Follows would be wonderful.**

They all help the story placement on the search engine. Many thanks to my faithful commenters and of course to all that have Fav'd and Followed in the past.

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

Beta'd by the wonderful** Stella **Many, many thanks for your assistance and thank the techo gods for a fourteen hour time difference!

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

**TRIGGER WARNINGS** – **TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS -TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS**

**This chapter will *NOT contain* - Mature Subject Matter and F/M sex. If this is a problem for you please don't read it. Most of it will not be graphic except maybe the smut if I can manage it, but some areas could get trigger-y for people sensitive on that topic. **

**Please DO NOT READ if you will have issues with any of these items.**

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

I don't own the Avengers or Thor, they are the property of Marvel and Disney, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.


	13. Chapter 13 - Whatever makes you happy

**Chapter Summary** - Negotiations Loki style. Otherwise known as this is why we can't have nice things.

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Okay, short chapter... But it is way early. So that counts for something yes? Actually, this is the best place to break the chapter, otherwise it was going to be huge and possibly not ready on time. I know it's short, but I hope you enjoy it.

**I got my first piece of fan art! Whooo! Violinsofold make it for Queens Grace Please check it out on my tumblr page - rennemichaels dot tumblr dot com **

************************* TRIGGER WARNINGS IN THE END NOTES *********************************** **

**Light smut.**

**OoooO OoooO OoooO OoooO**

Chapter 13 - Whatever makes you happy

"Do not lie to me." Loki had whispered immediately before shoving him across the room. This was totally getting old, more than a working BiFrost right now he wishes Loki's sexy self had a Tony Tossing Inhibitor of some sort installed on him.

When it was all said and done, Tony ended up on the other side of the room, slammed up against a window. Fortunately, for his sanity, it was not 'that' window. But still, it was a window, so the only thing keeping him from having a full blown panic attack, was the fact that he was, as always, wearing his suit bracelets. Before the inventor could even consider turning around, strong fingers wrapped around his right wrist, jerking it back and up, forcing Tony to rise onto the tips of his toes to keep the gorgeous bastard behind him from dislocating his shoulder. With his other hand tugging on the arm of the hand that Loki had wrapped around his throat, Tony's didn't have any way to keep the side of his face from being mashed up against the cool glass.

"Okay! Okay! I'm not going to lie to you," He told the god who was breathing harshly in his ear. "I did think of all those other items. Hello genius? How do you think I managed to convince Pepper and your dad-"

He paused when Loki growled in his ear.

"You really need to get over that one, ya know." This perhaps was not what he should have said, as it just resulted in his arm being twisted a bit harder.

"Ow! Okay. Okay."

His Arm dropping in to a fractionally less excruciating position, Tony rushed to try and get all of his reasoning… Not excuses, never excuses. But his reasoning out on the table and hope that it might, perhaps, put his god in a better place mentally. And possibly encourage said god to maybe let go of his arm, ideally before the inventor lost all use of it.

Of course, right now, anything south of homicidal and/or torn off was going to get Tony's complete vote of support.

"Adopted parents, okay? Can I say that? Anyhow, I did think of those things, it's how I convinced everyone that I was serious, okay? Because the other reasons? The personal ones? Those were just a bit too stalker-ish to get me any traction with them."

Huffing Tony continued. "I'm not stupid, you're not stupid… Them… I'm not too sure about. Okay, Pep's not stupid either, but they have a blind spot, ya know? Other people don't want to hear that we have a connection, I have to give them reasons they can believe. Reasons that make sense according to their perceptions of us."

"We don't have a connection Stark, we never did," Loki hissed into his ear pressing him harder into the window.

"Fucking hell, Lo." Tony was busy thanking god, his old housekeeper's god, that he had upgraded the windows in his penthouse after that last go round with this god. Otherwise he might have already been shoved through them.

"Look, I'm sorry I upset you, but can you just cut me some fricken slack here?" The billionaire mumbled, face smashed against the wide expanse of glass. The view of course was breathtaking, or perhaps Tony just felt that way because his lungs were being compressed by an angry deity.

"Bottom line, okay?" The inventor slurred, his word causing fog to spread across the cold glass. "I want to be happy, and that's never going to happen if I can't have you in my life. You have no idea how much I've missed you. Seriously, no idea. As Jarvis, he'll tell you. I've been pretty miserable. More so than I usually am at least. You know what? Don't ask him, it will just remind you of what a grumpy prick I can be. Anyhow, that's not important, what is important is that I want you to be happy and I don't think you 'coping' being stranded penniless in Ass Gard for the next four hundred years is going to cut it for you." Tony swallowed, continuing in a small, humbled voice, "And maybe, we don't have a connection right now due to my stupidity, but we _did_, and maybe we could have again if we work at it."

Tony tried not to groan in relief as the pressure on his cheek and shoulder disappeared, Loki's arm instead snaking around his waist. The other arm across his throat wasn't removed, but it did loosen as the trickster's head dropped heavily down to Tony's shoulder. He would have liked to have turned to look at his god, but that wasn't possible with the way the Trickster was holding him, so Tony contented himself with a sideways head bump.

Several minutes later, Tony realized the hand at his waist was rubbing soft little circles against the worn fabric of his t-shirt. As he leaned backwards, both of the arms around him tightened for a long moment. A gentle nuzzling at the crook of his neck accompanied the hug. Tony leaned in even more as he felt warm breath and his god's lips brushing his jawline.

"Honestly, you really have no idea how much I missed you." Tony sighed, melting further against the tall man behind him. He still would have liked to turn, but didn't want to interrupt the almost butterfly wing flutter of the tender little nips Loki was planting up and down the exposed portion of his neck. So they stood there, and if Tony started rocking a bit while Loki's stroking became a bit more focused, well that was no one's business but theirs.

Loki's one hand had slipped under his shirt and was stroking up and down his chest, while the other rested just inside the waist band of Tony's jeans. Losing all track of time, little tendrils of the tension Tony had been carrying for the last year start to unwind deep within him. Every time Loki's hand stoked down his chest, or when the fingers on his other hand dipped low enough to gently tease the fine strip of hair trailing down from Tony's lower belly, the inventor found himself relaxing even more, so much so that he was in imminent danger of melting into a warm gooey puddle of lusty pleasure at any minute. From fucking cuddling while standing up? How this was even remotely possible, Tony wasn't sure, but he was sure that he didn't want to do anything that might cause Loki to stop.

Since he couldn't turn around, Tony closed his eyes and found his own hands ghosting up and down Loki's arms, delighting in the play of sinewy muscles underneath the thin fabric of the god's dress shirt. As the god stroked from his shoulder blades down to his belly , Tony trailed his own hands almost hypnotically down to Loki's, encouraging the Trickster to dip deeper in to his jeans or to pay more attention to the hardening nubs on his chest.

Tony's mind was almost blessedly blank when he turned his head in response to a series of insistent nips along his jaw and soft kisses pressed to the corner of his mouth.

There was no question that he was letting the god in.

Letting out a happy whine that he would have normally been too mortified to make, Tony's head rolled back bonelessly on Loki's shoulder to allow the god better access to his mouth.

Over the next several minutes, Tony made at least three unsuccessful attempts to turn, so he decided to just fucking go with it. When his eyes drifted back open for a moment, he could see that his god was also lost in the moment.

And if Tony hadn't thought the fucker was stunning before, with the way Loki's dark lashes trembled against his pale skin and all, he certainly did now.

Tony arched his back, trying to claim more of Loki's mouth, rising up into those long fingers which were still busily petting him. By the time Loki pulled away, everything Tony owned was standing at attention.

"Are you expecting me to also warm your bed," Loki asked huskily tightening his arm and holding the engineer firmly against him, finally allowing his hand to be pushed lower into Tony's jeans. Not quite as low as Tony would have liked, but close enough that his breath had hitched in anticipation.

"Oh god please," Tony prayed. It was unintentional, but a prayer none the less.

That he really wanted Loki in his bed later was a given, but right now Tony was pretty sure he was praying for the god's hand to move just that last little bit lower.

Tony licked his lips and rocked his hips unconsciously.

And then Tony's prayers were answered. Slipping his hand out from underneath the inventor's t-shirt, Loki brought it up to delicately stroke along Tony's cheek, turning his face so the god could trace a long finger against Tony's kiss swollen lower lip.

"What was it you bought that day, Stark?"He asked tenderly as long clever fingers finally, finally, thank you Jesus, slipped the rest of the way down, circled his cock and started stroking and pulling lightly on it.

"Oh god. Oh yes. God yes." Tony chanted after a few minutes of finally getting some attention where it was desperately needed.

"You like?" Loki breathed as he twisted his wrist just so.

"Fuck yeah." The engineer groaned, almost not caring if he even came. After the year Tony'd had, he would be happy to spend the rest of his life standing here, totally fucking blissed out while being kissed and jacked off by his god.

"So, tell me, Tony. What was it you bought that day when you missed our last meeting?"

Eye's closed Tony's face screwed up into a tinyfrown, partially from the question but mostly from the tension of chasing down the increased sensations his cock was experiencing. "A golden bronze, mint condition. Nineteen Fifty-four Oldsmobile. An F-88."

"Hummm?"

"A car. A convertible. A type of car whose roof that folds down," Tony gasped out answering the unasked, but implied question. Loki's fingers dipping down to briefly cup his balls. "A concept car, only three were ever made."

"Ah. Was it worth it?" Loki asked his intent expression at odds with the light tone in his voice.

"No." Huffing, Tony bit his lower lip, rolling his hips against the god's palm, "The minute… Ah… I realized what I had done… It wasn't worth it."

Loki kissed his temple, "So what is going to happen to this unworthy car now?" the god whispered into his ear.

"Umm… I don't know… Ahhhhh…" Brows knitted in concentration, unable to slouch down because of the hand cupping his chin, the engineer rotated his hips, whining softly, because those wonderfully talented fingers were still cupping his balls and not applying pressure higher up his cock, where he really, really fucking needed it.

"Focus, Stark." The god told him, neither his voice nor his fingers were as soft and caressing as they had been even a moment ago. "I asked, what is going to happen to this unworthy car now?"

"Hey!" He yelped, trying abortively to get away from the cruel fingers clamped around an area important to his happiness. If he had to be honest, Tony would have to say it was more the vise-like grip on his balls rather than Loki's change in tone that finally got his attention.

Loki's voice was now as hard as the metal Tony had made his first suit with. "For the third time Stark, what is going to happen to this unworthy car now? The one you were out buying while I waited all night for you to return."

_Oh. Shit._

This was not good. This was so far from not good, Tony wasn't even sure it was a distance that could be measured. Aching, and not just from the god's grip on his balls, he figured he only had one chance to get this right or he was going to be shortly hitting some octaves that would have every dog in the city howling.

"I'm going to auction it off and donate the money to a charity in your name?" Tony asked in a faltering voice, his expression pained with just a dash of panic.

Loki's head titled considering this. From the way the god's eyes narrowed, Tony was pretty sure this was not the answer he had been looking for. However, since no important body parts had yet been pulled off, Tony was counting himself lucky right now.

"And that compensates me how?" the god almost spat.

_Or maybe not so lucky._

Grimacing, Tony said, "Umm, it doesn't." He tensed, cringing at the possibility of what damage those long, strong. Oh god. So, so strong, fingers could do to him.

"No. It doesn't," Loki's fingers twitched, Tony hissed as the ones below tightened slightly and the ones on his face dug in to keep him from moving. Hard green eyes bored into Tony's wide amber ones. "I think this unworthy car should be painted in my colors, and transferred to me, as my personal vehicle. I have always wanted to learn how to operate a Midgardian conveyance."

If Tony felt any pain at having to desecrate the original paint job of such a classic car and then turning it over to someone just learning how to drive, it was nothing compared to the pain of his throbbing, now totally forgotten cock, and his cruelly compressed balls.

"I think, that's a great idea," Tony gasped, working hard to keep his voice from sliding up into the soprano range.

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As always comments and reviews are greatly appreciated.

**If you aren't a comment or review kind of person then Favs and Follows would be wonderful.**

They all help the story placement on the search engine. Many thanks to my faithful commenters and of course to all that have Fav'd and Followed in the past.

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I was blown away by the wonderful comments I got last time, and the feeling that, yes Loki is going to go off at least a bit, was, I thought a valid one. Of course the whole Loki and Tony need to learn not to fight about everything was also a good point. Are they done fighting yet? I'm not sure. Was this enough? Does Loki feel like he counted coup enough to try something different? Does he think Tony still has some 'splaning to do?

Fyi - The last time an F-88 Oldsmobile came up for sale it sold for 3.5mil. I figured Loki deserved something nice.

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Beta'd by the wonderful** Stella **Many, many thanks for your assistance and thank the techo gods for a fourteen hour time difference!

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**TRIGGER WARNINGS** – **TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS -TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS - TRIGGER WARNINGS**

**This chapter will * contain* - Mature Subject Matter and F/M sex. If this is a problem for you please don't read it. Most of it will not be graphic except maybe the smut if I can manage it, but some areas could get trigger-y for people sensitive on that topic. **

**Please DO NOT READ if you will have issues with any of these items.**

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**Public Service Announcement - **The whole smashing people up against window, either in rage or to have sexy times... Lest anyone get any ideas, I do warn you that it could be dangerous if you don't have bullet-proof windows or the ability to fly. So please, write fanfiction responsibly and keep that in mind.

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I don't own the Avengers or Thor, they are the property of Marvel and Disney, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.


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